Koirala to contest CA polls from Banke constituency-1

 Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala 's name has been recommended from the Banke constituency-1 for the upcoming Constituent Assembly election slated for November 19.

In the first CA election, Koirala had contested from Banke constituency-3, and had lost to Madhesi Janadhikar Forum's Sarwadev Ojha.

A meeting of the NC Regional Committee on Sunday recommended Koirala'a name unanimously from the constituency-1.

In the earlier elections of 2048 and 2056 B.S., Koirala had triumphed from the constituency-3.

NSP's firm on its stance, not to talk to govt

The Nepal Sadbhawana Party  has taken a stance not to sit in talks with the government by breaking the ongoing hunger strike.

Chairperson of the party, Sarita Giri , has been staging fast-unto-death at Ratnapark from August 20 putting forth various demands including for increase of constituencies in Tarai on the basis of population growth.

Spokesperson of the party, Govinda Saha, said that Giri decided not to sit in talks with the government by breaking the hunger-strike.

The Council of Ministers, Consultation and Coordination Committee had called the party for talks for August 27.

The party has sent a letter about its stance to the Committee today. The hunger-strike would be continued until the demands are met, according to the party.Health condition of leader Giri is deteriorating. RSS

Nembang, Khanal, recommended from Ilam constituencies

 While the local committees are yet to formally recommend names of candidates for the November 19

Constituent Assembly  election, top CPN-UML leaders look decided on their constituencies.

Party sources said Khanal is also eying one constituency in Kathmandu to secure his position in the CA. “He [Khanal] is interested in contesting even from Kathmandu. If not, he will prefer his previous electoral constituency,' a leader close to Khanal told the Post on Saturday.
 

Party Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal is set to contest the polls along with five other party members, from Ilam’s constituency -1, the same area where he had won the seat in the 2008 CA election .

Likewise, Subash Nembang , chairperson of the now-dissolved CA, is all set to contest the upcoming CA polls from Illam's constituency -2. Although the regional committee was to submit five candidates, the committee meeting unanimously recommended Nemwang. The five other contesters along with Khanal at constituency -1 are Kajiman Kagate, Bir Bahadur Lapcha, Khinu Langwa and Ratna Adhikari.

Likewise, Mahesh Basnet, Bhakta K.C.,  Krishna Shrestha and Padam Bhandari,Tek Bahadur Rai, have been recommended for constituency -3.

Meanwhile, NC on Sunday announced the name of 3 candidates for direct and 5 for Proportional Representation at the three constituencies of Ilam Dist.
UCPN-Maoist has already recommended their 15 candidates from the district's three constituencies. 

20 held, Youths clash in Dolakha,

 Police here have taken under control 20 youths on the charge of vandalism under the influence of alcohol.

It has been learnt that a brawl broke out between two groups of youths and they also vandalised a hotel in Dolakha Bazaar. The incident took place at 2 a.m. Tuesday morning in which two youths were injured. Among the injured the condition of Suresh Gautam of Bhimeshwar Municipality-10 is said to be serious. He has been taken to Kathmandu for further treatment. He has sustained serious injuries in his head.

The local Bhimeshwar Hotel was vandalised by the youths in course of the clash that took place between two groups of drunk youths at the time when the Bhairav Kumari festival was underway in the Dolakha Bazaar.

Meanwhile, Tara Bahadur Sunuwar, a worker at the Khanekhola Hydropower Project at Marbu VDC, died when he was hit by a falling rock in course of work.  Sunuwar of Okhaldhunga Khijichandeshwari-5 died on the way to hospital, police said. RSS

Mahato said : 'Polls on stipulated date at any cost'

Chairman of the Sadhbhawana Party, Rajendra Mahato , has said that the election to the second Constituent Assembly would be held at any cost even if the CPN-Maoist stayed out.

At a press conference organised by the Party at Janakpur on Tuesday, Mahato stressed on the need of holding the CA election on the stipulated date even by dissolving the High-Level Political Committee (HLPC) if it was an obstacle to the election .

He said the party would forge alliance in the election with the like-minded parties. RSS

parliament system of gov- Madhes parties for 10 provinces,

With less than three months to go for the Constituent Assembly elections slated for November 19, Madhes-centric parties have started zeroing in on the federal model and form of governance the country should adopt.

The parties are also for a parliamentary system of governance, where the prime minister would be elected from the legislature. However, the Upendra Yadav-led Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Nepal is in favour of a directly-elected president who will exercise executive powers.

Almost all Madhes parties are pitching for two autonomous provinces in the plains, basing them on the majority report of the State Restructuring Commission that has proposed 10 provinces with  two of them in the Madhes.

According to the General Secretary of the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik, Jitendra Dev, his party supports an improved form of the parliamentary system. On the federal set-up, Dev, who also heads the manifesto-writing committee of the party, said they are for 10 provinces, along the lines suggested by the SRC. 'Our bottom line is that there should be two autonomous provinces in the Madhes--Madhes province and Tharuhat province,' he said.

He added that his party's manifesto demands that elections for provinces be held within one year of the promulgation of the constitution.The party which split from the MJF-N in July 2009, will be contesting the CA polls for the first time.

Sadhbhawana Party has also pitched for 10 provinces. According to leader Laxman Lal Karna, who heads the manifesto writing committee of the party, the two provinces in the Madhes would be named after consultations with the Tharu community. 'As for the forms of governance, we are for a parliamentary system with executive powers vested on the prime minister,' he said.

The Rastriya Madhes Samajbadi Party, which split from the MJF-L in September last year, also said it favours the parliamentary system, where the prime minister, elected through a parliament, has the executive powers. 'Though our position is for a single province, we could go for two,' said party spokesperson
The Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party led by Mahanta Thakur said it has a similar take on both these issues.

High-level Political Committee agrees, in principle, to hold round-table meet

Not knowing what the Cumnist Party in Nepal (CPN)-Maoist exactly wants, the High-level Political Committee(HLPC ) on Thursday agreed ‘in principle’ to hold a round-table conference/all-party meeting if that helps the party in joining the November 19 elections.

According to leaders, the High-level Political Committee agreed to hold the round-table after the Mohan Baidya-led CPN-Maoist gave a ‘positive signal.’

The fate of such a conference, however, largely depends on the CPN-M’s commitment to the polls, which is often “seen wavering.”

Cross-party leaders said they will hold informal talks with CPN-Maoist leaders on Thursday and Friday and find out what exactly the party wants from the round-table. However, if the CPN-Maoist wants to settle all the issues in the roundtable conference and postpone the elections, such a meeting may not take place at all, the leaders said.

High-level Political Committee leaders said a roundtable conference can only discuss contentious issues of the new constitution, while the final call will be taken by the Constituent Assembly.

The High-level Political Committee had earlier said that it is ready to postpone the elections if the poll-opposing parties make a commitment to contest the elections later. Cross-party leaders privy to the developments say there are reasons for them giving the CPN-Maoist such leeway. The first reason is that they want to test the CPN-Maoist’s honesty in being part of the CA election process, while another is to give the party a message that the High-level Political Committee tried its best to bring the party on board. Yet another reason the leaders said was to ‘expose’ the CPN-Maoist’s ‘intention of not wanting the election to take place.’ “The CPN-Maoist, which is demanding cancellation of the election process, changed its mind in the talks  with the High-level Political Committee , saying it is ready to join the election process,' said High-level Political Committee leader Bharat Bimal Yadav. “We agreed on a round-table conference as they were positive about the polls.' High-level Political Committee members—UCPN Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, CPN-UML Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal, Nepali Congress Vice-chairman Ram Chandra Poudel and Madhesi Janadhikar Forum Nepal-Democratic Chairman Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar—are of the view that Baidya will not join the election, and as such, it should not be postponed.

However, NC President Sushil Koirala, UML leader Madhav K. Nepal and UCPN leader Narayan K.Shrestha are of the view that holding the polls will be difficult without the CPN-Maoist’s participation.

CPN-Maoist leaders, on the other hand, said they have not agreed to join the Mangser 4 election.

Foreign investment needed for development of hydropower:

Minister for Energy Umakanta Jha has said that there is a need for foreign investment for the development of hydropower sector in the country.

Addressing the 28th anniversary of Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) in the capital on Saturday, he said that although the government had allocated over Rs. 30 billion for the sector in the new budget, it is not sufficient for the development of the sector.

Similarly, Energy secretary Bishwa Prakash Pandit said that there is a need for long-term plan for the development of the sector and relieve the country from power outage.

Meanwhile, despite a 20 percent hike in the power tariff, the authority incurred a loss of Rs. 4.56 billion in the fiscal year 2012/13.

However, NEA’s managing director Rameshwar Yadav said that NEA has reduced the annual loss by around 50 percent in 2012/13 compared to the previous year

Philippines suspends hunt for ferry disaster survivors

Bad weather has forced diving teams in the Philippines to suspend their search for survivors of Friday's ferry disaster. The Philippines' transport and communications secretary has been giving the latest on the operation.

"Latest account - there are 629 survivors, 31 casualties. So far what has been accounted for is six hundred and sixty, six-six-zero. Missing is 171. There were foreigners on board. I heard (from) particularly Administrator Mejia that the reports coming from the area are that all the foreigners are OK. So there are no accounted casualties among the foreigners. There is, I heard, a New Zealander who is now in the hospital," said Joseph Abaya, Philippines Transport & Communications Sec.

The spokesman says the passenger ferry was about to enter the port of Cebu City, about 570 kilometers south of Manila, when it hit a cargo ship. The ferry sank within minutes, in waters around 33 meters deep.

It's thought some of the passengers still unaccounted for could still be trapped inside the vessel. The captains of both ships survived and are being questioned. The Philippine government says it’s ready to offer assistance to the victims, and is promising an immediate investigation into the incident.

Iran: Labor and student protests in Ahvaz and Tehran

File photo: A workers protest in IranNCRI - Some 200 laid off textile workers in city of Ahvaz gathered in protest in front of city’s labor department to protest lack of unemployment insurance, according to reports from inside Iran,

Workers at the city's First District municipality gathered outside the city's municipality to protest delay in payment of their wages. Suppressive agents of State Security Forces were stationed in the area to prevent the escalation of the protest.

Moreover, applicants who wanted to enter university in Tehran assembled in outside Education Assessment office. On August 14, around 100 young men and women gathered to protest allocation of quotas and gender discrimination at universities.

In the past few years by orders from senior authorities, the clerical regime has initiated segregation, discrimination and setting quotas based on gender for some educational branches. Gender-based restrictions in the codes of some higher-education branches in recent years have always been a matter of protest of university applicants.

In universities many courses are either only available to only male applicants or are accessible to few female applicants.

Senior BJP leader Prasad in Capital

 

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and the party’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, Ravi Shankar Prasad , arrived in Kathmandu on Friday on a three day visit.

Immediately after landing in the Capital, he went to meet Indian Ambassador to Nepal Jayanta Prasad, taking stock of Nepal’s current political situation and the election process.

He will deliver a lecture on ‘Republic of Nepal: Emerging Hope and Scope’, organised by Nepal-Bharat Sahayog Manch on Saturday. He is accompanied by Ajit Kumar who looks dedicatedly Nepal affairs at the BJP, according to the convener of the Manch, Deepak Adhikari.

He will meet President Ram Baran Yadav, Interim Election Council Chairman Khil Raj Regmi, Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala, and UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, former Prime Ministers Sher Bahadur Deuba, Madhav Kumar Nepal and many others. He is likely to address the media too.

At a time when Nepal is bracing for second Constituent Assembly election, his visit will let Nepali leaders understand BJP’s position.