DHAKA: The leader of Nepal’s Maoist party, who appears to have lost in this week’s national election, demanded on Thursday that the vote counting be stopped because of what he called massive irregularities.

The irregularities occurred during transporting of ballot boxes and also during the counting, said Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known as Prachanda, leader of the United Communist Party of Nepal Maoists.

‘We are demanding an immediate stop to the vote counting and an independent probe into the allegations,’ Dahal said, adding his party could boycott the constituent assembly if its demands are not addressed, reports The Times of India.

He said the party has reports of ballots boxes being hidden for hours, and of ballot boxes being switched while being transported to counting centres, and that several boxes had gone missing.

Prachanda’s statement came as election officials announced that he lost in a Katmandu constituency, coming in third in what had been thought to be a Maoist stronghold.

BDST: 1713 HRS, NOV 20, 2013
RoR/BSK