Janata Dal (U) hails Maoist victory in Nepal

By Sanjay Kumar

New Delhi, Apr.15 : The Janata Dal-United (JDU) today came out in strong support of the Nepali Maoists, describing their march towards an electoral majority in the Constituent Assembly polls as a historic achievement.

JD-U National President Sharad Yadav told ANI on the sidelines of Tuesday's truncated Parliament session that the Maoist victory should be seen as a spectacular one and a historic development.

He further said that the results should be seen as a victory for the common people and the weaker sections of Nepali society, who had so far been marginalized by the feudal and market forces.

"Whatever opinion there maybe of Maoists, one thing is certain, they worked for providing justice to the weaker sections and remained with them in all situations," Yadav said.

"The Maoists first battled for the poor with bullets, but once they realised the power of the ballot, they took to it like duck to water. India's Maoists should follow the path taken by their Nepali counterparts and join the mainstream," said Yadav, who is also the president of the Parliamentarians Forum for Nepal-India Friendship.

Yadav's comments came even as the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist continues to lead in the ongoing vote count under the proportional representation (PR) electoral system.

According to a preliminary report of the Election Commission based on results in 54 constituencies across the country, out of 1,030,389 votes counted so far the Maoist party has obtained 333,504 (32.37 percent). The vote counting is still underway in many of these constituencies.

The Nepali Congress has secured 235,131 (22.82 percent) of the votes, and the CPN-UML 224,879 (21.82 percent).

Meanwhile, the spokesperson of Nepal's Eclection Commission, Laxman Bhattarai, has informed that vote counting under the PR system has already been completed in 18 constituencies as of Monday afternoon.

ANI