UDAYAPUR, April 2: As the local level election draws nearer, political parties' have started forming strategies to grab all the higher level positions in the local units due to which smaller positions have been undermined.
Political leaders, cadres and prospective candidates are found claiming their candidacy for the higher positions while there has been no claim for other positions. It is really important for the aspiring candidates to win party tickets before contesting the election. So, these days the aspiring candidates are trying their best to please political leaders. They are competing with each other for reserving their birth for the position of mayor in the municipalities while the competition is no less in the rural municipalities.
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Possible candidates have intensified their meetings with the higher level officials and political leaders to bargain for the posts. They are also conducting gatherings and have even started door-to-door visits. On the other hand, no one has shown their interest in smaller posts like deputy mayor, chairperson of ward, members of ward and as well as female ward members.
Though there are more than three weeks left for the party to distribute tickets but the competition has already become tough. There have been discussions and debates going on about whom to elect to the high ranking positions in all the four municipalities and four rural municipalities. The battle has been tough among major political parties like Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre) and the main opposition CPN-UML.
Triyuga, which is the district headquarters, is among the most developed municipality in the district due to which there are a number of aspiring candidates for the post of mayor here. But there is not much competition for other minor positions here as well.
In the upcoming local elections scheduled for May 14, people in the district will elect four mayors, four deputy mayors, four chairpersons, four vice-chairpersons and altogether 391 representatives. As per the provision, 158 of them must be women.
According to local leaders, there are queues of people outside the party offices to seek tickets for higher level positions. But this has made it difficult for the political parties to choose candidates for minor positions. There is a compulsory provision that requires parties to include women but the number of aspiring women candidates is very low. Especially, minor parties are finding it challenging to meet the requirement.
