BARA, March 28: Although the northern parts of district are already in the grip of election fever, it's business as usual in other parts.
Amid wide presence of cadres of major political parties like UML, Nepali Congress and CPN-Maoist in northern part, mass gatherings and promotional events are being held almost every day. Prospective candidates have intensified their meetings with cadres and voters.
Local leaders and cadres are not only wooing their voters, but are also persuading members of other parties to come to their fold.
However, life is very much normal in mid and southern parts of the district, where the presence of cadres of United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) is massive. UDMF rarely conducts promotional events and leaders rarely visit the doorstep of villagers.
As per the new local-level restructuring, there are two sub-metropolitan cities, four municipalities and nine rural municipalities in Bara. 
Among major places in the northern part of the districts are Jitpur-Simara Sub-metropolitan City and Nijgadh Municipality, Kalaiya Sub-metropolitan City, Simraunagad Municipality, Mahagadhimai Municipality, among others, lie in the southern part.
According to local journalist Sujit Aryal, UDMF cadres have been staging protests against the elections, leading to tense situation in various parts of the district. They have also prevented locals from participating in the polls, he said.
“Earlier there used to be discussions and debates on who to elect at least two months in advance, but now, prospective candidates are not even able to announce their candidacy due ongoing protests,” he said.
According to the District Election Office, Bara, there are 296 polling centers and 3,37,390 voters in the district.

 
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