MADHESIS TO BOYCOTT 2ND PHASE OF NEPAL LOCAL POLLS

: With a little more than a fortnight to go for the second phase of Nepal’s local elections, an alliance of seven Madhes-based political parties decided on Friday to launch a fresh agitation and boycott the polls scheduled for June 14.

The decision by the newly formed Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN) has resulted in uncertainty about the second phase of the polls to local government bodies. The Terai and Madhes belts are among the areas going to the polls next month.

After a meeting in Kathmandu, RJPN leaders said several accords between the government and Madhes-based parties had not implemented and cases against Madhesi leaders had not been withdrawn. The increase in new local government units in the Terai and Madhes belts is not enough and thousands of eligible voters were left out of the electoral process, they said.

But a splinter group from Madhes, Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum, said it will participate in the polls.