Election fervor in Nawalparasi; who are in race ?

Parasi, March 24: Election fervor has increased in municipal and rural areas of Nawalparasi district with the preparation of local levels elections gaining momentum.
Political parties have stepped up their preparation with the date announced by Election Commission for civic polls – which is taking place after 19 years – coming round the corner.
Leaders and cadres of parties along with locals are seen talking about the potential candidates for municipalities and rural municipalities.
The thoroughfares and intersections are visible with local leaders and cadres of the parties where major issue of debate and discussion is the potential candidates in fray.
Besides, various social media are also being massively used to bring potential candidates into limelight.
After the restructuring of local body restructuring, Nawalparasi district has seven municipalities and eight rural municipalities. There has been increasingly heated public discussion on the probable candidates in Gaindakot, Devchuli, Kawaswoti, Madhyabindu, Bardaghat, Ramgram and Sunawal municipalities.
Interestingly, there is competition between the old and new generation to get party tickets in the major posts including mayor and deputy mayor in the municipalities.
It would be very difficult for the political parties to finalize their lists of candidates in Gaindakot municipality which has the population of around 60,000 and is the centre of concern for all. It is considered to be the stronghold of Nepali Congress.
Youths have put in place their campaign to present dynamic and popular local leader Keshab Sapkota as the most potential candidates of mayor of the municipality from Nepali Congress. Other candidates in the fray from the party are Madan Bhakta Adhikari, Om Prasad Sapkota, Drona Ban and Gajendra Ale.
Likewise, Chhatra Raj Poudel and Yamunath Acharya are on competition to become the mayor candidate of Gaindakot from CPN-UML.
In the similar vein, the tough race is seen in Devchuli municipality. Having more than 27,000 voters, the probable candidates are busy running their local campaigns.
Among the potential mayor candidates from NC in Devchuli are Hemraj Koirala and Dilliram Kaderiya while Khimananda Bhusal is ahead in the race from CPN-UML.
In Kawaswoti, Jhapindra Bhusal from NC is projected as a mayor candidate whereas NC district Secretary Bal Krishna Ghimire and Nepal Women Association Secretary Saraswoti Timilsina are also in fray. The aspirants from UML are Durga Bhandari and Deepak Lamsal.
Likewise, Narendra Kumar Gupta and Baijanath Jayaspal are among the popular candidates o NC for mayor in Ramgram municipality. Dipendra Yadav is ahead from CPN-UML whereas Buddhan Ali is probale candidate from CPN (Maoist Centre).
In Sunawal municipality, Arjun Kumar Pokharel and Bhim Bahadur Thapa (Bharat) are in the forefront from NC. Than Prasad Gaire, Bimala Aryal and Umanath Pokharel are in race from UML. Likewise, Bhabiswor Tiwari and Dolraj Bhandari are among the popular figures from ruling party, CPN (Maoist Centre).
Shanmbu Lal Shrestha, Biswo Prem Pathak and Indra Sapkota are said to be the potential mayor candidates from NC in Bardaghat municipality. Rukmangat Gyawali, Dipendra Adhikari and Dhiraj Sharma are taken to be probable candidates from CPN-UML. Rudra Prakash Upadhyay is in race from CPN (Maoist Centre).
There are total 373,000 voters and around 500 polling centres in Nawalparasi district, according to the District Election Office. RSS