Polling started at 0700 hours (0645 IST) and will end at 1700 hours (1645 IST), election officials said. Some 6,000 candidates are contesting the election under proportionate voting system while 4,021 candidates are in the fray under direct voting system. The country has witnessed a violence-marred campaign for the crucial elections to elect a body that will rewrite the Constitution and decide the fate of the 239-year-old monarchy.
In an interactive programme at Rajbiraj, an eastern Nepal town, Prachanda claimed that his party Communist Party of Nepal - Maoist would get 150 seats out of a total of 300 seats in the direct election, and that he will become the first president of the Himalayan nation after the polls. He also sounded a note of apprehension over elections taking place on the scheduled date. "I am not confident that the CA elections will be held on the stipulated date," he said.
The Coummunist Party of Nepal - Maoist unveiled its election manifesto for the April 10 polls on Friday. They promised to abrogate the 'unequal' 1950 Indo-Nepal peace treaty, divide the country into 11 regions based on ethnicity and raise the per capita income ten-fold.The manifesto unveiled by Maoist chairman Prachanda in Kathmandu, ahead of the Constituent Assembly elections, describe India as an expansionist force.
A Nepalese minister indicated that it may take weeks or months for the tainted doctor to be sent to India.
Nepalese police on Friday decided to slap charges of illegal kidney transplants and foreign currency violations against alleged kingpin Amit Kumar as India wanted him to be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation at the earliest.
The agreement provides a 58-42 allocation for proportional and direct election systems for the 601-seat constituent assembly
Also known as 'Serpent' for his skills of deception and evasion, 63-year-old Sobhraj had filed an appeal in the apex court against the life sentence given to him by the Kathmandu District Court, for the murder of American backpacker Connie Bronzich. He is suspected to have killed at least 12 travellers in India, Thailand and Nepal in the 1970s.
The issue of Doha round of WTO talks dominated the discussions as Prime Minister Manmahon Singh met his British counterpart Gordon Brown here and agreed on the need for pushing the stalled negotiations. Brown, while favouring cut in farm subsidies in the US and the Europe, voiced optimism that an agreement could be reached in the global trade talks that have got stuck due to stiff opposition by India and some other developing countries on agriculture subsidies.
With Pakistan's possible suspension from the grouping expected to dominate the Commonwealth Heads of Government meet, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left Delhi on Thursday for Kampala where hot issues like climate change, human rights and terrorism will also be on the agenda.
The two leaders are understood to have discussed ways to expand bilateral ties. The 30-minute meeting took place on the sidelines of the ASEAN-India summit. Trade between the two countries has been growing at a rapid pace and the two nations have set an ambitious target of $10 billion to be achieved by 2010.
China was forthcoming and supportive of international civil nuclear energy cooperation with India as the two countries affirmed their readiness to take their strategic and cooperative partnership to a new level at the ASEAN summit in Singapore on Wednesday.
Terming India's ties with the ASEAN as a 'pillar' of its 'Look East' policy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday proposed a bilateral trade target of $50 billion by 2010 and sought boosting of cooperation with the key ten-member grouping in technology, health care, climate change and tourism.
The Indian official is arriving in Kathmandu on a two-day visit on Wednesday afternoon to take stock of the political situation that has developed after a lack of consensus over Maoist demands for declaring the country a republic led to the postponement of November election.
Police raided dozens of houses, lodges, hotels and other places after the near-simultaneous blasts rocked Kathmandu on Sunday.
The weekend attack was condemned by the United Nations and major political parties, including the Maoists who termed it as an attempt to disrupt the Constituent Assembly polls to be held in November and derail the peace process.
The blasts occurred at a time when the home ministry is holding consultation with various security agencies to prepare for the crucial Constituent Assembly polls slated for November.
The occasion passed unnoticed by many as there were no grand celebrations, with the prime minister receiving gifts from party workers and well-wishers at his Baluwatar home and not venturing out, sources close to his family said.
The leaders agreed to work together to promote more favourable conditions for investment, both domestic and foreign, to foster economic growth and sustainable development.
'We note the commitments India has made... We look forward to reinforcing our partnership with India,' said the document issued by the US, Russia, France, UK, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan.
India has held that countries responsible for creating the problem of climate change should come out in a big way to solve this issue.
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