Maoist leader Prachanda, whose call for a week-long general strike has brought Nepal to a virtual halt, yesterday again urged voters not to take part in controversial polls called by the king, as fresh violence left eight people dead."Our party would like to make a final and special appeal to the general public ... to boycott municipal polls and take the movement for democracy and peace to a new height," Prachanda said in an e-mailed statement.

"The success of our general strike has made it clear that the public opinion is against the municipal polls slated for tomorrow," the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) chairman said.

Home Minister Kamal Thapa urged citizens to vote.

"The government has completed all the procedures and enough security arrangements have been made to conduct the elections in a peaceful and fair manner," he told journalists.

Security forces would take "strict action" against anybody who tried to disrupt the polls or prevent people voting, Thapa said.

"I request all the voters to exercise their rights by voting without fear," he said.

Army said Maoist rebels had killed at least seven security force personnel, while one guerilla also died in the violence.

Three soldiers and two policemen died when rebels stormed the district headquarters town of Gaighat, 400km east of Kathmandu. The body of a guerilla was also found, an army headquarters official said.

A soldier and a policeman were killed during a rebel attack in Panauti 30km southeast of Kathmandu, he added.

Prachanda said that the fight to topple King Gyanendra would continue after the municipal elections, the first to be held in seven years.

The Maoists have stepped up violence in a bid to derail the polls that the rebels and opposition parties say are a sham aimed at perpetuating Gyanendra's control of the tiny nation.

The municipal polls are part of Gyanendra's "roadmap" to restoring democracy by April 2007.

Despite international criticism, an opposition boycott, violence and a dearth of candidates, the election will go ahead, Election Commission spokesman Tejmuni Bajracharya said.

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Nepal. (AFP)