New York: The United Nations has said that the momentum continues to build ahead of historic Constituent Assembly elections in Nepal, but violent clashes and acts of intimidation involving supporters of political parties, mainly Maoist, are marring the campaign.

"The Young Communist League and other Maoist cadres continued to be involved in the largest proportion of these incidents," a UN report released yesterday said in its final assessment ahead of the polls.

The world body urged the Communist Party of Nepal- Maoist (CPN-M) to stop the "intimidatory behaviour" of its members and supporters.

The report also asks the CPN-M leadership to ensure that its stated readiness to abide by the outcome of the election authenticated through the established procedures is not undermined by contradictory statement.

The joint report by the UN Mission in Nepal and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights finds that while campaigning has been peaceful in many constituencies, there have been incidents of violence and intimidation.

It says while the number of abductions by armed groups had fallen slightly, there had been a considerable increase in the detonation of improvised explosive devices in acts clearly intended to disrupt the electoral process.

In addition, there is mounting evidence of State resources being deployed for partisan ends and of attempts to buy votes through "donations" of food, clothing and other goods to some communities.

But the latest report, the third and final in a series of periodic reports on the conditions for the Constituent Assembly elections on April 10,observes that there have also been several positive developments during the past week.

Source : PTI