TIKAPUR, July 5: The newly-elected mayor and deputy mayor have assumed their offices in Tikapur Municipality. After assuming office, Mayor Tapendra Bahadur Rawal has already begun to work on some of the promises he had during his election campaign. He has decided to form a taskforce for the conservation and development of the Tharu language under a panel of experts. Before the polls, he had promised to work on making Tharu language an official language of business in a program organized by the Jaycees in Tikapur.
The Municipality officials welcomed the mayor and the deputy mayor into their offices.
Rawal had appealed to all officials to support his agenda of making a 'prosperous' Tikapur.
Rawal said he expects the help of the municipality officials in order to accomplish the mandate given by the people. Executive Director of the municipality, Bala Ram Sharma welcomed both the mayor and deputy mayor Keshari Bista along with the ward chairpersons.
“The bureaucrats have a lot of experience. We are just the representative of the people,” said Rawal adding, “The main work are done by the bureaucrats as they should not hinder the people's progress.”
CPN UML's Rawal became the mayor securing 5,959 votes, beating his closest rival of CPN (Maoist Center), Lalit Thapa 'Shiva' who managed 5,610 votes. Nepali Congress's Keshari Bista won the post of deputy mayor securing 6,226 votes and defeating her closest rival from the Maoist Center, Asha Choudhari by 673 votes.
Among the nine wards in this municipality, Loktantrik Forum won four, Maoist Center three and CPN-UML two. Out of the 39,192 voters in Tikapur Municipality, 27,162 votes were valid, according to the Chief Election Officer Man Prasad Regmi.
In Bhajani Municipality, Maoist Center's Sher Bahadur Chaudhary won the post of mayor with 5,228 votes, defeating his nearest rival from NLF Kebal Choudhary. Maoist Center's Chaya Devkota was elected to the post of deputy mayor, securing 5,008 votes. The party also bagged four wards while UML and NLF won two and NC bagged one.
In Bardagoriya Rural Municipality, NC's Baliram Chaudhary was elected the chief with 3,741 votes beating his closest rival from the CPN UML, Karna Bahadur Kunwar. Maoist Center's Bhagwati Devi Chaudhary became deputy chief securing 4,912 votes and beating her closest rival from NC, Lalita Bhatta.
In Kailari Rural Municipality, the Maoist Center was victorious in all posts. Laluram Chaudhary was elected the chief while Laxmi Chatgauba was elected the deputy chief.
They defeated NC's Ramshat Chaudhary and Anita Chaudhary, respectively.
Tharu to become official language in Ghorahi
