Nepal Army reject Maoists` poll-rigging blame

Kathmandu: The Nepal Army Friday rubbished Maoists` allegation of poll-rigging and termed the charge as baseless. The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) or, UCPN (Maoist), led by former guerrilla leader and prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, has alleged that the Nepal Army and Election Commission (EC) were involved in the poll-rigging to defeat their party in the Nov 19 Constituent Assembly (CA) elections. The Maoists, who fought a decade-long civil war before joining the political mainstream in 2006, alleged last week that ballot boxes had been hidden, stuffed or swapped. Meanwhile, the army`s statement came a day after a probe committee of the Maoist party blamed army of collecting and transporting the ballot boxes against the party mandate, Xinhua reported. "The army was mobilised as per the Interim Constitution-2007 for conducting the Constituent Assembly in a free, fair and peaceful manner, and it accomplished its responsibility with high integrity. The NA completed its mandate with honesty and in a professional manner," the statement said. Nepal Army (NA) said that all the stakeholders including international community have appreciated the role played by the army in the election.