DANG, May 18: In Darma Rural Municipality of Salyan district, Nepali Congress (NC) and CPN-UML had forged an electoral alliance for the position of chairperson and vice chairperson. The alliance had intended to gain edge over the ruling CPN (Maoist Center) in the local elections.
The alliance had fielded Ram Chandra KC of NC for chairman and UML's Dal Bahadur Gaha for vice chairman. However, the election results was just the opposite of the expectations -- the Maoist Center won both the positions. The party's Nim Bahadur KC won the position of the chief by nearly 1,000 votes securing 3,694 votes. Likewise, Maoist Center's Tika Sharma Oli won the position of vice chairperson with 3,695 votes.
Talks to set poll date fruitless
The alliance between NC and UML was not limited just to the positions of chairman and vice chairman. They had forged alliance in all wards of the rural municipality. When the election results came out, the alliance won only one ward and lost four of the remaining wards to the Maoist Center.
Party leaders in the district said that cadres of both the parties ignored the alliance.
“I had predicted this outcome very early and tried to convince my party not to forge this unhealthy alliance. In the name of electoral alliance, we should not let ourselves be at disadvantage,” said Dilli Regmi, former central member of NC. “Yet, they did not heed my advice. As a result, the outcome was a total disaster.”
“We couldn't rip the advantage of the alliance because we didn't help each other whole-heartedly. If our alliance was effective, our victories would have been certain,” said Bhadra Bhuda, CPN-UML's Salyan district leader.
Not just in Darma Rural Municipality, the two parties' alliance in Bangad Kubhinde Municipality is also likely to prove useless. As per the adjustment, the UML had fielded its candidate for mayor while NC's candidate was vying for deputy mayor. The vote counting is still underway and the Maoist Center candidates are leading.
