Nepal polls put off indefinitely

The government decision to call off the election to the Constituent Assembly, proposed on November 22...

The government decision to call off the election to the Constituent Assembly, proposed on November 22 has brought Maoists into focused criticism of the political parties, including the Left groups who hold them squarely guilty for derailing the electoral process. Parallel to this rift within the coalition which might trigger a political polarisation, Prime Minister G P Koirala has come under pressure from his own party to quit in deference to his repeated pledge that he would not stick to the post if elections are not held in November.

Hours within the election commission announced that the election process has been put off, three political parties led by the CPN-UML, a major partner in the Koirala-led coalition government, held a public rally to denounce the forces of ‘authoritarianism and status quoism’ for scuttling the election. In their expression, Maoists are the ‘authoritarian’ and the Congress, the status quoist.

Although the Congress Party refused to take the blame for pushing election into uncertainty, its working president Sushil Koirala echoed the UML crusade against the Maoists, saying they were solely to blame for the set back to the electoral process.

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While Congress president and Prime Minister Koirala kept mum about the decision, a special session of Parliament is to take place on October 11 to debate future political course where Maoists will once again insist for declaring Nepal a republic state along with proportional electoral system promising they would fully cooperate to hold election on any date that the coalition would decide. “We had to do this to keep the seven party unity intact”, Maoist Chief Prachanda said.

Maoists are also planning to use the forum of parliament to demand Prime Minister Koirala’s ouster if their two demands are not met. “It is better for prime Minister Koirala to quit now instead of trying to defend his failure to hold elections”, a central committee member of the congress party said.