Prominent Madhesi party to boycott polls

KATHMANDU A prominent faction of Madhes-based parties in Nepal on Sunday decided to boycott the local polls and announced a general strike ahead of the elections scheduled for June 28.

The Rastriya Janata PartyNepal, a coalition of seven parties led by Mahanta Thakur, announced fresh protests saying all doors have been shut for meaningful talks with the government on amending the Constitution to meet demands of the Madhesis.

Local general strikes will be held in Madhes, Tharuhat and Limbuwan focusing on the nomination days--June 13 to 16--and a national indefinite general strike will be organised from June 24.

Another faction of Madhesbased parties led by Upendra Yadav and Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar have already decided to take part in the elections.

A meeting held by the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Centre) with RJP-N earlier on Sunday ended inconclusively, leading to the latter's decision to go for protests.

The ruling alliance called it unfortunate and urged the RJP-N not to resort to protests.

“This election is going to be an illegitimate one”, said Thakur, claiming his coalition was forced to announce protests after the government failed to fulfil their concerns. “Since the dialogues also failed to yield any positive results, we have decided to begin struggle from Monday.”