King Gyanendra on Wednesday directed the Election Commission (EC) to hold parliamentary elections by mid-April 2007.

In his message to the nation on the occasion of the Vijaya Dashami, the King stated: “We have commanded the Election Commission to conduct elections to the House of Representatives within the year 2063 B.S.”

The King also urged the international community for its active cooperation to conduct the parliamentary polls in a free and fair manner.

Meaningful multiparty democracy is possible only when the representative institutions are reenergized through elections conducted in free and fair manner, the King said.

The monarch also said that the Maoists [although he described them as ‘misguided lot’) were free to join the political mainstream by ending violence.

The King has already ordered municipal elections within this Nepali year even as political major parties have announced not to participate the polls.