Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum Nepal Chairman Upendra Yadav has remarked that the protests launched by the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal against the second phase of local level elections will rob the Madhesi people of their right to vote.

Talking to reporters at his residence in Biratnagar on Tuesday, Yadav said it would be wise for the RJP-N to participate in the local polls instead of disrupting them. He added that the local polls were the only way to institutionalise the latest political gains and to broaden the rights of the Madhesi people.

“No form of protest can stop the upcoming elections,” said Yadav. “Elections are the only thing the people want at the moment.”

Stressing that there was 74 percent voter turnout in the first phase of local polls despite attempts by the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal to foil the elections by detonating bombs, Yadav said the success has a message for the parties opposing the vote.

Frequent protests in the plains had killed many people rather than yielding any achievements, he said, expressing hope that the elections would bail the country out of the long-standing political crisis.

Yadav said a rift among the RJP-N leaders had led the party to oppose the polls. It depended on the government’s will whether or not the second-phase elections will take place on the date.

It was crucial to conduct three tiers of election by January 2018 to save the hard-earned federalism and republicanism, he stressed. “In order to institutionalise federalism and to foil the conspiracies to topple the republican order, it is necessary to amend the constitution, which is possible only through election.”

“Since no party has shown seriousness in addressing the grievances of Madhes, it is important to convince the CPN-UML to amend the constitution and resolve the issue,” said Yadav.