Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba today asked Madhesis to vote for the ruling Nepali Congress party candidates in the upcoming elections in order to amend the Constitution in their faour.

Addressing an event in Janakpur of Dhanusha district in southern Nepal, he said Nepali Congress is committed to amending the Constitution in favor of the Madhesis.

"But Nepali Congress needs a two-thirds majority for the same," Deuba, also the president of the Nepali Congress, told the audience and asked them to vote for his party.

Madhesis, mostly of Indian-origin, launched a prolonged agitation between September 2015 and February last year against the implementation of the new Constitution which they felt marginalized the community.

Some Madhes-centric parties have opposed the elections on the ground that the new Constitution be amended to accommodate their views: more representation in the Parliament and redrawing of provincial boundaries.

Deuba admitted that there are some shortcomings in the Constitution promulgated a couple of years ago.

"Madhes still has poverty and the people are backward. Madhesi people have not been able to properly exercise their constitutional rights. All these issues will be resolved out only through the amendment to the Constitution," he said.

Describing Janakpur as the cultural and religious heritage site, Deuba said that the relationship between Nepal and India has further strengthened because of Janakpur, a city which is an important pilgrimage site for Hindus.

Terming the Communist parties as the party against religion, he said the Nepali Congress is the party that believes in religious freedom.

"We respect all the religion. We don't view religion as opium-like communists do," he said.