( dpa )- The United Nations says Nepal's election campaign is becoming increasingly violent and Sunday called on all groups to abide by the code of conduct in the run up to the April elections.
In a report, United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) and the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said despite progress to create an environment to hold free and fair elections, serious hurdles still remained.
"The electoral campaign is increasingly taking a violent turn, with daily reports of clashes between party supporters, use of other forms of violence, intimidation and threats," the UN report said. "There is a marked gulf of distrust and hostility among political parties."
The report singled out the former rebels the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (CPN-M) of obstructing campaigns of other political parties in areas which they considered their stronghold.
"There is growing evidence of action by CPN-M cadres, including members of the Young Communist League (YCL), to restrict in various ways freedom of assembly of other parties in several districts," the UN report said.
"This has often entailed the use of violence or threat of violence. A repeated warning from CPN-M cadres has been that other parties should not campaign in its 'base areas'," the report highlighted.
The UN agencies also said the Maoists were intimidating people to cast their votes in their favour by warning them that they will know who they voted for.
The two UN agencies also said the Maoists had violated election code of conduct by using former guerrilla fighters during campaigning or nominating them as candidates.
Under Nepal's peace agreement that formally ended the decade-long fighting, Maoist fighters and the Nepalese Army would remain restricted to cantonments and barracks respectively.
However, this agreement had been violated by the Maoists, the UN report said.
"UNMIN has drawn to the attention of the leadership of the CPN-M that it is inconsistent with this principle that a number of commanders and members of the Maoist army have been nominated and are campaigning as candidates for election without having been discharged from the Maoist army."
The UN called on all political parties to abide strictly by the election code of conduct and respect for human rights of competing parties and voters.
It also called for the Maoists to end the practice of preventing other parties from campaigning in areas which they consider their political territory.
Nepal goes to the polls to choose a constituent assembly on April 10. The assembly will be responsible for drafting a new constitution and ratify a decision of the interim parliament to abolish the monarchy.