BIRATNAGAR, June 7: Political parties in Biratnagar Metropolitan City are in the 'wait and see' mode to announce their candidates for the local polls scheduled for June 28.
Political parties such as Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (FSFN), Nepal Loktantrik Forum (NLF) and Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN) are preparing to announce their candidates after their rival parties do that.
“No party commands majority votes in Biratnagar. All parties are mulling over forging electoral alliances considering the possible fear of defeat,” Bhaktinath Majhi, district chairman of NLF, told Republica.
The city has 112,832 voters and most parts of the three constituencies - 5, 6 and 7 - of Morang are connected to the nation's eastern metropolis. In the second Constituent Assembly election held in 2013, Nepali Congress had won the seats in three constituencies.
The city has a strong population from the hills, Madhes, Tharu and Muslim communities.
However, the CPN (Maoist Center) and Rastriya Prajatanta Party (RPP) have already named Bhogendra Yadav and Pralhad Shah respectively as their mayoral candidate.
“The parties which have not announced their candidates are interested to build electoral alliances,” said Majhi.
A member of the CPN-UML Morang Chapter said that the party is all set to announce its candidate but they will finalize things only after other parties' announce their candidates.
“The standing committee of our party is almost close to announcing the candidate.
However, they are yet to decide the name,” said leader of CPN-UML Washim Alam.
The Nepali Congress has over 14 aspirants for the post.
“The major leaders in the party have been mulling to contest their separate leaders for the post. So, there are many aspirants for the mayoral post,” said a Nepali Congress leader, requesting anonymity.
Rajkumar Yadav, chairman of FSFN, said that his party has been conducting meeting with other parties to announce a single candidate.
“Our party has been discussing with the NLF, RJPN and Maoist Center for an alliance,” said Yadav.
Too many candidates in big parties, small parties struggle to f...
