KASKI, Nov 29: The six districts of Province 4 observed peaceful elections on Sunday. Now, what is left is to see which candidate wins and who gets defeated. Eight parliamentary candidates under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) category and 16 candidates of provincial assembly will get the opportunity to be a part of the new government if they get elected. But the fate of all of those candidates will be disclosed only after December 7 upon completion of the second phase of elections.
The Election Commission (EC) has announced to start vote counting only after concluding both phases of the parliamentary and provincial elections while the candidates and even the voters are desperately waiting for December 7. The ballot boxes will be under the security of Nepal Police, Armed Police and Nepal Army until then. There were altogether 817 polling centers and 611 polling stations in six districts of Province 4. The overall voter turnout was 67%. As all parties have fielded strong candidates in the elections, it has been challenging for the locals to predict the winners. The newly forged alliances between various parties have made the prediction more intriguing. The Nepali Congress (NC) faced the left alliance in five districts of the province without collaboration with any other parties.
Candidates eager to learn their fates
In the recently held local elections, NC emerged the biggest party followed by CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist-Center) in Province 4. Though the left alliance now seems stronger than the ruling NC after collaboration between the CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Center), it is not easy for the alliance to gain clear victory. Many 'heavyweight' leaders had filed their candidacy in the elections including former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai and Narayan Kaji Shrestha in constituency 2 of Gorkha. Similarly, the contest between CPN-UML's Hariraj Adhikari and NC's Chin Kaji Shrestha in constituency 1 of the same district also created headlines.
Likewise in Manang, Rajiv Gurung also known as Dipak Manange who has earned reputation of a notorious 'gangster' had filed for independent candidacy with the support of CPN-UML. According to Prem Prasad Tulachan, candidate of the left alliance in Mustang, there is no problem in counting the votes after the second phase of elections but he is worried about the safety of the ballot boxes.
"Nothing is going to change if the votes are counted later as we are sure of our victory. But we are worried about the safety of the ballot boxes," he said.
