The Hindu : Front Page : Nepal Maoists faring well in polls

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Saturday, Apr 12, 2008
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Nepal Maoists faring well in polls

Ameet Dhakal

KATHMANDU: The counting of votes in the Thursday’s historic Constituent Assembly election in Nepal has begun.

So far, only one result, that of Kathmandu-1, has come out. The first candidate to be elected to the Constituent Assembly is Prakash Man Singh of the Nepali Congress (NC). He got 14,318 votes, against 6789 secured by his nearest rival, Pradip Nepal of the UML.

It will take at least two more days for the results of the majority of the constituencies to emerge.

Preliminary results indicate that the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is likely to do better than expected. It was leading in a majority of the 50 constituencies. The overall trend will be clear by Saturday.

However, one trend, at least, seems to be clear now: The Maoists seem to have encroached deep into the Left vote bank and are likely to give a huge setback to the Communist Party of Nepal (UML).

The UML candidates were trailing in many of the party’s strongholds.

The strong showing of the Maoists is likely to benefit the NC in many constituencies in the hills, including the Kathmandu valley.

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