SARLAHI, June 12: Even as the second round of local elections is just around the corner, the major political parties in Sarlahi are still facing a hard time finalizing their candidates for the polls.
Despite holding regular meetings, CPN-UML, Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN (Maoist center) are not yet able to pick their candidates. This has become a serious problem for these parties as the date for announcing the election candidates is inching nearer. It is learnt that the NC has split into two groups due to the differences over choosing the party's candidates for the polls. According to sources, if the district chapter of the party cannot choose the candidates, the responsibility will be handed over to the central committee.
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According to locals, district chairperson of NC, Nagendra Kumar Ray and former chairperson Laxman Ray have their own candidates, making it difficult for the party to reach a conclusion. As informed by former NC district chairperson Laxman Ray, he had requested the current chairperson to hand over the responsibility of picking candidates to the municipal and village boards but he didn't agree to do so.
District secretary of NC, Nabin Adhikari informed Republica that no candidates have been recommended yet from area no.1, 5 and 6. The Election Commission has scheduled June 16 as the date for filing nominations. So, there is a great pressure on the major political parties to select candidates before the deadline.
With the objective of finalizing its candidates, the CPN-UML had conducted a meeting on Sunday but the meeting failed to reach any decision and another meeting was called on Monday as well. Even though the election is just around the corner, the party has fixed its candidates only in six out of 17 local units.
The party has chosen Chandrika Prasad Singh for the post of chairperson and Sunita Devi Sahani for vice-chairperson in Balara Rural Municipality. In Ishworpur Rural Municipality, Manoj Devkota and Ekawati Devi Chaudhary have been selected as candidates for the post of chairperson and vice-chairperson, respectively. In Haripur Rural Municipality, Jamaruddin Mansur and Renuka Kafle have been picked by the party as its candidates for the post of chairperson and vice-chairperson, respectively.
Meanwhile, the CPN (Maoist Center) has fielded its candidates for various posts in 10 out of the 17 local units. The party has chosen Bharat Thapa for the mayoral post in Bagmati Municipality, Kamal Budhathoki in Harion Municipality and Shambhu Paswan Hajari in Godaita Municipality. Likewise, Padma Moktan has been chosen as the candidate for the post of deputy Mayor in Harion Municipality. The party has finalized the name of Shankar Chaudhary as the candidate for the post of chairperson of Chandranagar Rural Municipality.
