Voting under way in Nepal

Barring a stray incident, voting for Nepal's second Constituent Assembly Tuesday has been largely peaceful so far, media reports said.

Ballotting began a little late in some polling booths due to technical problems, eKantipur quoted Nepal Police central spokesperson SSP Ganesh KC as saying.

Members from 122 political parties, as well as independent candidates, will vie for 601-member Constituent Assembly that is expected to write a new constitution.

There are 6,128 candidates in the fray for direct election to 240 seats, the Nepal Times quoted Bir Bahadur Rai, spokesman of the country's Election Commission, as saying.

This apart, 10,709 candidates will be competing for 335 seats under the proportional representation election system, while 26 other seats will be filled on the basis of nominations.

According to Ujjyalo FM radio, voting has been largely peaceful and mostly uninterrupted.

However, one voting centre at Chamunda High School in Dailekh-2 constituency was attacked by Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) cadres, who stole the ballot box. Voting at the centre was stalled after police fired in the air to bring the situation under control.

The CPN-M, a breakaway faction of the United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, has boycotted the elections.

A total of 12.4 million people are entitled to vote in Nepal's second Constituent Assembly elections after the first elected in 2008 election failed to promulgate a much-awaited constitution that will institutionalise the republic established in 2008 after the 240-year long monarchy was toppled.