Thursday, February 9 2006 11:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Nepal: Amidst boycott by political parties and Maoist violence, Nepal today (Feb 8 2006) witnessed a thin turnout in municipal elections touted by King Gyanendra as the first step towards restoration of full-fledged democracy.

The Army opened fire on an anti-poll demonstration killing one person and injuring another even as authorities arrested over 100 opposition activists, who were urging people not to cast their ballots, from various parts of the country.

Very low turnout of voters was witnessed during the polling conducted in 36 municipalities across Nepal. The voting started at 8 am but even after hours had passed only 10 per cent of the total 1.48 million voters cast their ballots, sources said quoting Election Commission officials.

A series of bomb explosions by Maoists to disrupt the polling, the first in seven years, were reported from Dhangadi, Tikapur and Mahendranagar municipalities in west Nepal.

A civilian was killed and another injured when the army opened fire at anti-poll demonstrators in Dang, party sources said. The peaceful demonstration was launched by the seven-party alliance urging people to boycott the polls.

The army was authorised to shoot, if necessary, in case of political parties disrupting the polls. Police fired two rounds of bullets at an activist of CPN-UML, who went to a polling booth posing as a voter and threw the ballot box as well as tore ballot papers. However, he escaped unhurt.

The Government also arrested over 100 activists belonging to opposition parties, including Nepali Congress central member and former finance minister Mahesh Acharya, for campaigning against the elections. Acharya was arrested from Biratnagar Municipality in east Nepal along with dozens others while taking out a rally for boycott, party sources said.

The activists shouted anti-King slogans and called on people to boycott polls at various places in Kathmandu, Kirtipur, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur Municipalities of Kathmandu valley, where polling was very low. Dozens of activists were arrested and police also baton-charged them.

Police arrested 36 activists fom Rautahat and 10 from Pokhara. In Narayangadh, police fired in the air to disperse demonstrators campaigning for poll boycott.

Voters' ID card was not a compulsory requirement

In today's polling, voters' ID card was not a compulsory requirement in most of the places. In some places, security personnel asked pedestrians to caste votes despite absense of their names in the voters' list, sources said.

In Kathmandu, polling percentage ranged from 5 to 15 per cent on an average despite Government's strict order to civil servants to compulsorily cast votes. The number of security and polling staff was more than the voters in many places. People could cast their votes within 3-4 minutes in most of the polling booths, unlike hours-long queues in the past.

Meanwhile, the seven agitating parties during a joint meeting described the municipal polls as a 'total failure', saying that "the election drama was played with a view to legitimising the authoritarian rule but it could not succeed." They also asked Maoists to withdraw their ongoing general strike as their objective to disrupt the polls had become 'successful'.

Meanwhile, a rebel was shot dead by security personnel while he was planting a landmine in Kailali district in western Nepal to disrupt the polling, the army said in a statement. Also, two Maoists and a soldier were killed in overnight clashes in eastern Dhankuta district.

Sources said that the rebels also abducted 10 people, including Government officials and policemen, from Dhankuta where they bombed about a dozen Government buildings and also destroyed a bank.

Yesterday, two Maoists were killed in a clash with security forces in Kanchanpur district, the army said. Three other rebels were killed in clashes on Monday in east and west Nepal, the Defence Ministry said in a separate statement.