Khotang, June 21 Federal Socialist Forum’s Gajendra Rai is running for ward member from Rupakot Majhuwahgadhi Municipality, of Khotang in the upcoming second phase of local elections. A common candidate from his party and Naya Shakti Party-Nepal, Rai was expected to canvass with his party’s official election symbol — a hand-clutched torch. Instead, he is campaigning with the borrowed election symbol of another party, the Nepali Congress. Likewise, Kanti Shrestha and Jayanti Darji are CPN-MC candidates, but they too are campaigning by using the official election symbol of the NC — a tree. According to sources, Congress, CPN-MC, FSF-N and Naya Shakti Party-Nepal have forged an electoral alliance in the ward and are now campaigning with the same symbol. Elaborating his party’s decision to campaign with the NC’s election symbol, FSF-N ward member candidate Rai said they had taken a lesson from the past. “In the first phase of elections, parties did forge alliance but failed as they used their own election symbol for campaigning. Keeping the mistake of the past in mind, this time alliance partners have decided to campaign by using the same election symbol in those place where parties have forged alliance,” he said. As per the agreement, the alliance partner in Ward 8 of Rupakot Majhuwagadi Municipality will support candidates for ward chairperson and a ward member from the NC, two ward members and one ward member from CPN-MC, and the alliance of Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal and Naya Shakti Party-Nepal respectively. The alliance will take on UML ward chairperson candidate Lila Chauhan. Likewise, in Ward 7 of the municipality, Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal is contesting the election by using the CPN-Maoist Centre’s election symbol. As per the alliance forged between the joint FSF-N, NSP-N and CPN-MC, CPN-MC’s Hari Prasad Chaulagain and Krishna Thapa have been fielded as the ward chairperson candidate and a ward member candidate, and three ward member candidates have been fielded by FSF-N. NC’s Mahant Rai and UML’s Dilchaktra Rai are competing for the post of ward chairperson from here. Though there is also an election alliance between CPN-MC and FSF-N in Ward 10, the parties in this ward are campaigning with their own election symbols.