The condition of one of the injured, Shiva Dangol, is serious, while Minister Mahat has received injuries to his head. According to eyewitnesses, rest others have received minor injuries. About 30 Maoist cadres allegedly pelted stones at them.

A seriously injured Dangol is undergoing treatment at TU Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj. The Maoists also torched Dangol's motorcycle.

Talking to the Post, Minister Mahat said Maoist cadres attacked them with stones and sticks while they were on their way to Ganesthan from Kharanitar area at about 4:30 in the afternoon. "They first used abusive language and then began manhandling us," Mahat said.

The Maoist cadres allegedly pelted stones as the police team accompanying Mahat intervened. This left over half a dozen cadres including an eight-year old girl and a police inspector injured. The windscreens of five jeeps and a truck were also damaged.

Maoist Nuwakot district in-charge Hira Nath Khatiwada has denied Maoist involvement in the incident.

Meanwhile, issuing a press statement, NC has condemned the Maoist 'unruly activities' and demanded strong action against the guilty involved in the incident.

'Int'l observers failed to monitor poll in remote

districts'

Dr Mahat organized a press conference at his home in Kathmandu on Monday and alleged that election observers had failed to monitor the Constituent Assembly (CA) poll in far flung villages and that polling officers and party cadres in villages were forced to give in to the threats of Maoists.

Referring to the statements by international observers that the CA elections were held in free and fair manner, Mahat called this 'naïve observation'. "It is certainly difficult to know the situation in far flung villages in the country by staying in Kathmandu's five-star hotels. The observation that elections were held in free and fair manner was based mainly on the surface," he added.

"This is the situation of an incumbent minister. You can just imagine the situation of ordinary people," he said, pointing at his bruised head.

He said Maoist cadres in a polling station based at Dudhe Devi VDC in the district had 'quietly seized' the booth and cast over 1,100 votes after issuing death threats to the

polling officer. "But there were no one to speak about the incident.

Similar was the case in many districts, including Ramechhap and Dhading," he further said.

Mahat alleged that Maoist cadres barred leaders of other political parties from entering villages for campaigning and they captured and beat up others who reached the village thereby restricting the voices of other political parties. "Maoists have created a reign of terror," he charged.

Pralhad Phuyal, injured in the Maoist attack today, said Maoist cadres have even issued threats to local journalists not to disseminate 'bad' news about them. He said journalists, election observers and polling officers have failed to speak out against the unfair means adopted by Maoists during the elections fearing for their lives.