CALLS FOR NEPAL KING TO LEAVE PALACE

The unexpected emergence of the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (CPN-M) as the single largest party in the Constituent Assembly has begun showing its effect in Nepal.
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Nepal Borders Polls Politics Election News
On Sunday, the Maoists took out a victory procession in the capital demanding that the royal palace be vacated, indicating that the party will push the pro-republican agenda faster. “Raj durbar khali gar, janata audaichhan (vacate the royal palace for the people),” followers of Barshaman Pun, one of the key military strategists of the CPN-M, chanted as they marched in the victory procession.
The party leadership, however, has asked its cadres, especially the Young Communist League, to tone down the celebrations till the victory is formal.
By late on Sunday evening, the CPN-M had won 68 of the 122 seats for which the results were announced, and was leading in the rest. The Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) were left fighting for the distant number two position. Their tally was 21 and 19 seats respectively, far behind the Maoists.
Stunned by the reverses suffered by his party, Madhav Kumar Nepal, the CPN-UML general secretary, announced his resignation. He said all his party ministers, who held six portfolios including foreign affairs, will quit the present government.
Nepal, along with other party stalwarts K P Oli, Bharat Mohan Adhikary, Pradeep Nepal, Astalakshmi and Bamdev Gautam — all members of the party’s central committe — were defeated, meaning that the Constituent Assembly will not have any top leader of the party.
The plight of the Nepali Congress, headed by Prime Minister G P Koirala, was no different. Almost all his relatives, including daughter Sujata Koirala and nephew Shekhar Koirala, were trounced. The all-powerful Home Minister, K P Sitaula, also suffered a defeat. Sources in the Prime Minister’s office said Koirala might wait for results for all the 575 seats under the first-past-the-post system and the proportional representation system were known before taking a decision. This may take up to two