“Once the election is held and the results are out, one will need to light a torch to look for the UCPN (Maoist) in the country,” said Khanal while addressing a gathering organized at the Academy Hall in Kathmandu on Friday.[break]
Khanal said the CPN-UML, this time around, has a strong organizational strength, ideological ground and public trust to secure majority in the coming election. “Still we want to forge a broader alliance with the progressive and democratic political forces so as to ensure two-thirds majority of the like-minded forces in the legislature,” he said.
He argued that the dissolved Constituent Assembly (CA) failed to produce a new constitution “due to Maoists´ emergence as the largest party in the legislature.”
Khanal´s remarks comes in reaction to the remarks of UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who had a couple of days ago claimed that the CPN-UML party was nowhere in the scene and that UCPN (Maoist) and the Nepali Congress (NC) were the only two major political forces in the country.
UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal earlier this week had said that Dahal´s remarks showed that he was already suffering from mental disorder and he required urgent treatment for that.
In a separate event in Kathmandu, Khanal instructed party rank and file to remain alert against possible rigging by UCPN (Maoist) in the coming election.
“Last time, the Maoists emerged as the largest party by intimidating and threatening voters. Had we been able to stop them from doing so, the Maoists wouldn´t have emerged as the largest party,” he said. “It was due to Maoist emergence as the largest party that the previous legislature couldn´t institutionalize democracy, republic and other achievements attained through the popular April Movement.”
Meanwhile, UML Valley Coordination Committee has demanded that the proposed eligibility threshold of 1.5 percent for seats under proportional representation system must be endorsed and that the total number of members in the new CA should be reduced. The party has said the proposal to reduce the number to 491 is appropriate and it should be endorsed.
UCN (Maoist) and some fringe parties have strongly objected to the threshold provision. As per the proposed criteria a political party must get at least 1.5 percent of total votes cast in the election to secure a seat in the legislature under proportional representation quota. If such a provision is introduced, around a dozen fringe political parties represented in the dissolved CA will not be able to ensure their presence in the legislature.
The Election Commission had recently proposed barring aspirants with criminal background from contesting election. The commission has proposed that any individual with a criminal background can file candidacy only six years after the aspirant has served full jail term as per the court order.
NC and UML are in favor of implementing the provision while UCPN (Maoist), CPN-Maoist and some other parties are against it.
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