MAOIST JANARDHAN SHARMA CONFDENT Katthmandu, 22 June: UCPN-Maoist leader Janardan Sharma has said that the upcoming Constituent Assembly (CA) polls would be held in the slated date, RSS writes from Saptari.i. The government has already announced the CA election for November 19. At a news conference organised by Revolutionary Journalists Association Saptari Chapter this morning, the former minister said that election would be conducted as the political parties were prepared to create a conducive environment after the poll date was announced. "Exercises are on to bring the dissenting parties onboard the election. The dissenting parties also will participate in the election," he added. On the occasion, UCPN-Maoist central leaders Umesh Yadav and Amar Mandal, among others were present. Nnnn MICRO POWERPLANT WASHED AWAY Kathmandu, 22 Iune:- A canal of the Putpute-II Micro Hydropower Project based in Chitrebhanjyang VDC, the remote area in Syangja district, has been washed away by the recent monsoon flood that has wreaked havoc in several parts of the Country, RSS reports from Syangjha.. Locals said that the entire VDC has suffered power cuts after the project with capacity of 98 Kilowatt failed to generate power. Similarly, mobile phone towers, two drinking water projects, eight grinding mills, four poultry farms and a television cable network have also been closed due to power cuts, former VDC Chairman Manorath Sharma said. The villagers had constructed the Hydel project by supplying water through a 1,610 meters long canal after constructing a dam in Putputekhola. Sharma said some Rs 1.5 million is required to repair the damaged canal and embankment. A total of 834 households of the entire VDC were benefited by the power generated from the project. Sharma said the project would remain closed for at least two months in need of maintenance. RSS nnnn6- INDIAN ARMY RESCUES 500 STRANDED NEPALIS Kathmandu, 22 June: The Indian Army rescued about 500 youths who were stranded at Badrinath-Kedarnath region due to rain havoc on Saturday, The Kathmandu Post reports from Nepalgunj.. Indian Police and concerned government bodies safely brought the stranded Nepalis at Nepalgunj border in busses and train this afternoon. The youths used to do labor work of carrying pilgrimages at Badrinath-Kedarnath temple. Most of them are from Mid and Far-western regions, sources confirmed. According to them, over 1000 Nepalis have been stranded in the area. Meanwhile, Banke administration has assured to provide them relief package. nnnn ELECTION WILL COST A FORTURE Kathmandu, 22 June: The second Constituent Assembly ( CA ) elections scheduled for November 19 looks an expensive affair, Bhadra Sharma writes in The Kathmandu Post.. With the Election Commission ( EC ) proposing to double the expenditure ceiling for individual candidates and more political parties applying for registration, the election cost for both the political parties and the EC is set to shoot up way high than that in the 2008 polls. Citing inflation, a Code of Conduct Committee led by EC Commissioner Ayodhee Prasad Yadav has proposed doubling the ceiling of money a candidate can spend under the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) system. In the 2008 elections, the EC had allowed a candidate to spend a maximum of Rs 459,500 for the poll campaign. This time around, a candidate can spend upto Rs 919,000 for the campaign. If the proposed ceiling comes into effect, any party that fields its candidates in all the 240 constituencies will have to manage a minimum of Rs 220.56 million for the candidates contesting under the FPTP electoral system. The polls will be costlier for the EC too, as the number of parties applying for registration has gone up by almost three times than the number during the 2008 polls. A total of 139 political parties have applied for registration this time, while in 2008, only 54 parties had contested the elections. “The increased number of parties means additional financial burden for the Commission. We are in a fix as to how we will manage all these parties in a single ballot paper. We have to replace all the previous ballot boxes with new ones,” Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety told the Post. Data at the EC show that its expenses is increasing with every election. The poll expenditure in the first parliamentary elections held after Jana Aandolan-I in 1991 was Rs 11 million.In the 2008 CA elections, the expenses shot up to Rs 3 billion, apart from the expenses incurred in managing security. Rs 2.15 billion was spent for security arrangements during the elections then. Apart from the security expenses, the EC has this time demanded Rs 7 billion for the polls. The Home Ministry, which handles poll security, has sought Rs 6 billion for the November elections. “The expenditure may go up as logistics used in 2008 are outdated now,” Uprety said. Though the new expenditure ceiling will allow candidates to spend big in their campaign, parties’ record when it comes to submitting their election expenses to the EC has been dismal. According to EC officials, parties show nominal expenses in their poll expenditure reports. According to the EC , the CPN-UML was the largest spender in 2008, with Rs 13.68 million, while the Nepali Congress and the then CPN-Maoist had spent Rs 5.85 million and Rs 3.79 million respectively. nnnn