People defiant as rebels aim to disrupt Nepal poll

By Bappa Majumdar

JANAKPUR, Nepal (Reuters) - Many streets of southeastern Nepal were deserted on Wednesday, as activists waved black flags and burnt tires to enforce a strike aimed at disrupting the country's first election in nine years.

But many people in the plains of the Terai, Nepal's agricultural and industrial heartland and home to half its population, said they were determined to vote anyway despite a boycott from armed groups and smaller radical parties.

Political parties in the Terai are demanding autonomy for the region and its mainly Madheshi people, and there has been regular violence and many protests over the past year.

Just a few weeks ago, there were fears the elections would not even take place in the region, but a last minute deal brought most of the political parties in the region on board with a promise of autonomy after the vote on Thursday.

But not everybody is happy.

"We have been constantly ignored when it came to important posts in the government, the army, police and the judiciary," Shubh Chandra Singh, the leader of a radical faction of the Madheshi People's Rights' Forum (MPRF), told Reuters.

"It is not going to be any different after the elections, the Maoists will come into play and we will be ignored," he said in Janakpur, a temple town of more than 200,000 people.

Nepalis will vote for a 601-member constituent assembly, the centerpiece of a peace deal with Maoist rebels. The assembly will act as a parliament, write a new constitution, and, almost certainly, abolish the monarchy.

The boycott call may not derail the election but it could reduce turnout in some areas, with the strike affecting eight of the Terai's 20 districts on Wednesday.

"It does hurt the credibility of the elections to a certain extent because it leaves some groups out of the process and leads to an atmosphere of fear and violence," said Prashant Jha, a leading columnist on the region. "It may prevent high turnout."

Activists distributed leaflets in Janakpur asking people to boycott the polls, and also warned them not to leave their homes.

Rebels abducted an independent candidate a week ago, have told poll officials to stay at home and have set off around 50 small bombs in the region in the past month, without causing any deaths.

"It is clear intimidation, but we will go to the booths as we know that bullets and guns will never win the war, only elections can help us secure our rights," said electronics goods trader Rajdeep Sahay.

Shopkeepers sat outside closed shutters complaining of pressure from the rebels.

"They come at night and also in the day to tell us to forget votes and join them instead," said Amit Chaudhary.