Given just about three weeks' time to organise the event, the Hidden Treasure has downscaled the hoopla to hold the grand finale in the army club instead of the stately Birendra International Convention Centre, where it was held in the past.

Soon after the event management company announced it was going ahead with Miss Nepal 2009 in September, the Maoists said they would oppose it.

'The Maoists have the freedom to oppose the show but we also have the freedom to hold it in a democracy,' said Subarna Chhetri, former chairman of Hidden Treasure.

'The participants are adults and have the consent of their families. Also, the government has given us the right to hold the show and we pay taxes for that.'

Out of deference to Nepal's still conservative society, Miss Nepal does not have a swim suit round.

The new Miss Nepal would be able to take part in the Miss World 2009 pageant to be held in Johannesburg in December.

In the past, the Miss Nepal show had been halted twice more. The first time was in 2000 when Nepal was in national mourning following the assassination of King Birendra and nine more members of the royal family.

The second time it was shelved was six years later when Birendra's successor King Gyanendra seized absolute power through an army-backed coup and triggered widespread protests that caused his regime to fall in April 2006.