Maoists Decide Candidates For Constituent Assembly Poll
A party source said party chairman Prachanda will contest from constituency 10 or 6 of Kathmandu and 2 of Rolpa districts. Similarly, party’s second in rank and file Dr Baburam Bhattarai is set to contest from constituency 2 of Gorkha district.The party has decided to field central leaders CP Gajurel ‘Gaurab’ for constituency 2 of Sindhuli, Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’ for 2 of Chitwan, Matrika Yadav for Dhanusa (constituency yet not decided), Dev Gurung for Manang, Agni Saptoka for 2 of Sindhupalchowk, Jayapuri Gharti for 2 of Rolpa and Hisila Yami for 7 of Kathmandu.
Although party committees have recommended the name of Maoist Spokesperson and Minister for Information and Communications Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Pampha Bhusal for candidates in Dang and Arghakhanchi districts, the party is discussing suitable constituencies for them.
Barsa Man Pun ‘Ananta’ and Mohan Baidhya ‘Kiran’ have been recommended for Lalitpur 1 and Dang respectively. “But the party may nominate their names under the proportional electoral system,” the source said.
Interestingly, more than 50 percent of 35 Maoist central leaders will not participate in the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) electoral system.
“Since we need some strong leaders to engage in party activities during the poll, they will be included in proportional system,” a senior Maoist leader said.
He said the party also wants to make sure that those central leaders who contest the poll must secure victory.
The party is in its final stage in declaring the name of all its candidates. “We will announce the name of candidates selected for both proportional and First-Past-The-Post system by tomorrow,” the leader, preferring to remain unnamed, said.
Maoist-UML working to forge alliance
Senior leaders from both the Maoists and the UML on Monday held a meeting at UML central office to discuss the ways how to forge an alliance during the Constituent Assembly (CA) poll.
“Today, we discussed the need of a left-alliance during the Constituent Assembly poll,” a participant said.
During the meeting, leaders from both the parties decided to first obtain reports from local level on alliance for the poll.
“We may take such a decision from central level once reports are received from our respective parties’ local bodies,” the participant said.
The UML team led by party Standing Committee member Bam Dev Gautam also proposed to discuss various modalities of alliance. “Alliance between the UML and the Maoists is almost certain, but we are discussing its modalities,” the participant said.
The leaders will sit for another round of meeting on Tuesday.
