EXTENDED

VOTER REGISTRATION EXTENDED FOR ONE WEEK

Kathmandu, 17 Aug.: Election commission extended Saturday for one week the expired deadline to register for the 19 November assembly elections at request of major parties.

Estimated 18-year-olds numbering 700,000 missed the first deadline when 12.3 million registered, election officials said.

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NEPAL PLAYS AFGHANISTAN IN SINGAPORE IN CRICKET

Kathmandu, 178 Aug.: Nepal plays traditional rival Afghanistan Saturday

in the ACC Emerging Cup in Singapore.

Test playing nations India and Pakistan are in the same group..

Nepal prepare for the tournament in Sri Lanka.

Nepal plays India Tuesday and Pakistan Wednesday.

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CAPITAAL SATURDAY MORNING TEMPERATURE 29 DEGREES CELSIUS

Kathmandu, 17 Aug.: Capital’s Saturday morning temperature was19

degrees Celsius.

Temperature in the afternoon is expected to rise o 26 degrees Celsiu.

Friday’s rainfall was  63.4mm.

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GOVT., OPPOSITION ALLIANCE NARROW DOWN DIFFERENCES

ON NOV. ELECTIONS

Kathmandu, 17 Aug.:  The negotiations between the government talks team and the agitating alliance of dissident political parties led by CPN-Maoist made some headway in narrowing down differences between the two sides. Leaders from both the sides said that the negotiations have been creating grounds conducive to polls. “The negotiation is moving in a positive direction and creating a very good environment for the coming election because they [agitating parties] have shown readiness to participate in the election,” a member of the government talks team and Minister for Information and Communications Madhav Poudel told media persons after the talks held at Babarmahal on Friday. According to him, the government team urged the agitating political parties to participate in the polls scheduled for November 19. “They are positive about our request for participation in the polls,” said Poudel. Also, CPN-Maoist Secretary Dev Gurung, who led the talks team from the agitating political parties, said the talks were positive. “In today´s talks with the government team, we were basically focused on some policy issues and procedural subjects,” said Gurung. Both Paudel and Gurung claimed that the next round of talks between the two sides scheduled for Sunday will be decisive. Gurung said that they didn´t enter into political agendas as negotiations over major contentious political issues would be held with the high level political committee represented by top leaders from the major political parties. According to Mani Thapa, a member of the talks team from the agitating alliance, who is also the chief of the Revolutionary Communist Party Nepal, the government assured them that it would create favorable environment for them to participate in the polls. “The negotiations today concluded on a positive note because the government agreed to hold an all-party round table meeting to discuss the issues,” he said. “Also, the dialogue on other demands has been progressing.” It is the second formal talks between the government talks team and Mohan Baidya-led alliance of dissenting parties. The government formed a three-member talks team led by Home Minister Madhav Ghimire and the Baidya-led alliance formed a talks team led by CPN-Maoist Secretary Gurung. The agitating alliance´s 18-point demand includes dissolution of the present chief justice-led government and deferral of the polls scheduled for November 19. HLPC had earlier on Thursday reached a six-point political agreement with another alliance of agitating political parties led by Upendra Yadav of the Madhesi People´s Rights Forum Nepal. They agreed to increase the total number of CA members to 585 and to increase the number of seats to be allocated under the proportional representation (PR) system. As per the agreement, they decided to allocate 58 percent of the total seats under the PR system and 42 percent under the first-past-the-post electoral system.

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UML FACTIONAISM DEEPENS

Kathmandu, 17 Aug.: Even as the country heads for fresh elections, factional rivalry in the CPN-UML has become so glaring that lately members of this communist party have not only defied the orders of their committee chiefs but also challenged the instructions and circulars issued by party Chairman Jhalanath Khanal, THira Lal BHusal writes in Republica.. The sharpening factional rivalry within the party´s youth wing, Youth Federation of Nepal (YFN), has reached boiling point. So much so that different factional groups have been running parallel activities. While one faction is led by YFN Chairman Mahesh Basnet, another group is led by its vice-chairman, Jhapat Rawal. Party Chairman Khanal issued a circular to YFN and the leaders concerned, instructing them to withhold all events until the factional rivalries are sorted out. He had to intervene in the affairs of the youth wings as the factions were running parallel activities. While Basnet called a central committee meeting of the organization in Biratnagar for Thursday, Rawal planned a gathering of dissidents in Kathmandu on the same day. Basnet convened his organization´s scheduled meeting in Biratnagar in defiance of the party chairman´s circular. But the Rawal group cancelled their gathering as per the party instructions. Basnet, who is trusted by KP Oli, was reelected as YFN chief a few months ago, defeating Neeraj Acharya. While Acharya was backed by Khanal, another party leader, Madhav Kumar Nepal, backed Rawal. Following a deal between Nepal and Oli, Rawal agreed to support Basnet, and vie for the post of vice-chairman. Khanal had to issue a similar circular a few months ago also when two rival factions within the party´s student wing ran parallel activities. Similar was the case at that time also. While the faction close to Khanal cancelled a scheduled gathering, Madhav Dhungel, chief of the student wing who is close to Oli, did not. Party leaders say rivalries in the youth, student and various other sister wings are reflections of factional rivalries in the party. But in the last couple of weeks, the factional alignments in the party have changed as the Khanal and Nepal groups have joined hands against Oli. The Khanal and Nepal groups have lately convened several joint events in the capital. The new alliance has been so evident that Basnet would invite Oli to every function as chief guest while the Rawal faction would invite either Khanal or Nepal as chief guest at their events. Party leaders said the new alliance was forged under a plan to elect Nepal as party chairman against the other possible candidate, Oli. What triggered Khanal-Nepal alliance against Oli Leaders close to Nepal believe that “Oli´s tendency to shelter hooligans and criminals within the party organization” is the major factor irking Nepal. A large section of the party rank and file from the central to local levels accuses Oli of promoting a culture of sheltering hooligans in the party organization.
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