Opposition forces both in and outside the Constituent Assembly on Monday staged torch rallies across the country in protest of a planned promulgation of new constitution through the voting process. A joint alliance of UCPN (Maoist), CPN-Maoist, CPN-Revolutionary and Janajati forces paraded across major cities and towns with torch in hands, chanting slogans against the ruling Nepali Congress and CPN-UML. The protesters had staged "whistle-blowing" rallies on Sunday under planned protest programmes charted out by the Mohan Baidya led CPN-Maoist. The opposition alliance has announced a nationwide general strike on Tuesday.