A day after Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal asserted local elections as need of the hour and the agitating Madhes-based parties refused to participate in polls,

Hours after turning down the governing parties’ call to participate in local level elections set for May 14, the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM), an alliance of seven Madhes-based parties, said on Tuesday that its stance remains the same: constitution amendment before polls.

The Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha (SLMM) on Tuesday boycotted an all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, expressing their dissent to government decision to hold local level elections on May 14.

The Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha, an alliance of seven Madhes-based parties, unveiled a month-long protest programme including Tarai banda, denouncing the government’s announcement of local level election date.

A day after the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha warned of severing ties with the ruling coalition, the CPN (Maoist Centre) and the Nepali Congress on Sunday evening held talks with Madhesi leaders, once again, only to hear a new proposal from the Madhes-based parties.

Alarmed by what it describes as the CPN (Maoist Center)-led governing coalition’s sudden “U-turn” on its commitment to amend the constitution, the Samyukta Loktantrik Madhes Morcha (SLMM) have decided to do “whatever it takes” to ensure the constitution amendment before the planned local elections.

The Madhes-based parties have warned of severing ties with the governing coalition, making Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal reconsider his plan to declare dates for local level elections on Sunday.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Thursday reached out to the agitating Madhes-based parties, saying that he needs their support in announcing the date of local polls within the next few days, even as he reiterated the government’s commitment to taking the constitution amendment process ahead simultaneously.

When the phone rang on July 8, 2011, Raj Kumar Moktan was sitting with his mother and sisters at Hiledevi-5 in Ramechhap district. The call was from Saudi Arabia where his father Bam Bahadur Moktan had gone to work.

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has proposed to end the boundary row through a parliamentary panel after a failed bid to take the main opposition UML and Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha into confidence over the constitution amendment.

In what would bring cheers to the Nepali migrant workers, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Tuesday unveiled an ambitious plan to provide insurance cover to Nepali workers going to India and double the insurance cover for those going to other 110 work destinations.

At least 386 Nepalis died in Malaysia in 2016, according to official statistics, putting the toll twice as high as in Qatar even as the two countries employ a similar number of Nepali workers.

Malaysia on Tuesday said its issuing temporary work passes to foreigners working without legal status and allow companies employing undocumented workers to legally retain them.

Monday marked the tenth anniversary of the first Madhes movement, a three-week long popular uprising in the plains that, together with other smaller revolts, contributed to establishing Nepal as a federal democratic republic.

Malaysia has said it will continue to deduct levy from wage of foreign workers until January 2018, after its decision to shift the levy burden to employers, announced on New Year’s Eve, hit a snag.