Five injured in blast at Nepal poll office

A bomb went off yesterday at an election office in Nepal’s Kapilvastu district, injuring five people ahead of the second phase of the crucial local body elections which are being held after a gap of 20 years, a local media report said. The bomb exploded at the election office in Vadganga Municipality of Kapilvastu district when a joint panel of Nepali Congress and CPN (Maoist Center) was returning after filing their nomination for the second phase of local level election to be held on June 28. The injured are being treated at a local hospital. No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion so far. The process of filing nomination papers by candidates for the second phase of elections in 334 local units of provinces 1, 5 and 7 completed yesterday. The government has stepped up security at the election offices in various districts of southern Nepal to prevent any untoward incident in the wake of agitating Rastriya Janata Party Nepal’s declared programme to disrupt the polls. The election commission (EC) said the registration of candidacy for the second phase of election has concluded smoothly. Workers of Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal in Rupandehi district have filed nomination in the second phase as independent candidate. Rastriya Janta Party-Nepal, the major political grouping belonging to the Madhesi communities, did not field candidates for the first phase of election held on May 14. Election officer Kamal Panthi said they had received independent nominations for all the 37 positions in the council. The local level election is taking place across Nepal after a gap of 20 years. The local body elections should have been held in every five years in Nepal. Due to political instability, they have been halted since May 1997. The agitating RJP-N has announced to disrupt the local level polls on June 28. Some Madhes-centric parties have opposed the elections until the constitution is amended to accommodate their views: more representation in parliament and redrawing of provincial boundaries.