Biratnagar, September 16 Political parties have started preparations for provincial and parliamentary polls slated for December 7 in Morang district, where six constituencies for the House of Representatives and 12 for the provincial assembly have been determined. The CPN-Maoist Centre launched a campaign a week ago for the elections, whereas the CPN-UML started its preparations today. The Nepali Congress is said to start its poll campaign in the district immediately after Dashain. Other parties, including the Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal and the Nepal Democratic Forum, too have expedited internal preparations for the polls. The CPN-MC has already announced its candidate for chief minister of Province 1. The party’s Morang in-charge Kushal Limbu said his party had named Gopal Kiranti as its candidate for chief minister of the province. He said the party had also finalised names for in-charge of all six constituencies in the district. UML Morang chair Binod Dhakal said his party had started poll publicity campaign, dividing work among party workers. Stating that the UML won majority of seats in civic polls in Province 1, Dhakal said his party had launched the campaign with an eye to repeating the feat even in upcoming provincial and parliamentary elections. The party, however, said it was yet to pick its candidate for chief minister in the province. Former minister for general administration Lalbabu Pandit, former minister for information and communications Sherdhan Rai and UML Secretary Bhim Acharya  are seen as main contenders for the post. NC Morang president Dig Bahadur Limbu said his party would start poll campaign after Dashain, and added that it would be too early to name the party’s candidate for chief minister in the province now. Meanwhile, FSF-N’s central committee member Sanjay Singh said his party could not start its campaign for provincial and parliamentary elections as the party was now more focused on local level elections in Province 2 slated for September 18. “We will expedite our election campaigning after the civic polls in Province 2 are over,” Singh added.