Siraha, May 26

Political parties have intensified election campaigning in Siraha ahead of the second phase of civic polls.

The Nepali Congress organised a motorbike rally in Lahan Municipality today, while the CPN-UML carried out door-to-door campaigns and interactions in the district. Similarly, the CPN-Maoist Centre also started its election campaigning from Gol Bazaar, where the party is perceived to have a stronghold.

The parties, however, are struggling to finalise their candidates to contest for various posts in the elections.

Nepali Congress Siraha district president and parliamentarian Ramchandra Yadav said, “We’ve entrusted the selection of candidates to the local leaders of concerned villages and wards. In case they can’t finalise candidates, the party district committee or central leadership will take over the task.”

The CPN-UML, on its part, said it had selected most of the candidates, but was yet to finalise the list. “To this date, we’ve selected most of the candidates for the ward and village level. As for mayors, deputy-mayors and top two posts of rural municipalities, our provincial committee will choose deserving candidates from among the recommended names,” said the party district committee secretary Yogendra Prasad Singh.

The CPN-MC, meanwhile, attributed the delay in finalising its candidates to internal disputes. The party has been holding back-to-back meetings in order to resolve the disputes regarding its candidates. According to CPN-MC District Election Coordination Committee Ram Kumar Yadav, the party will declare its candidates in a few days.

The big political parties, however, said that such campaigns prior to selecting their candidates would not be effective. The Election Commission has fixed June 2 as the date for filing nominations of poll candidates.