Kathmandu, October 10

Locals of Kathmandu Constituency No 7 have expressed anger over Nepal Communist Party (NCP) lawmaker Ram Bir Manandhar’s decision to tender his resignation to get party leader Bam Dev Gautam elected from the constituency.

Locals said holding by-election to elect a new lawmaker would be a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Rabin Shrestha, 46, a resident of Paknajol, said, “We know Manandhar as he is a local resident. He had promised us development and we elected him. Now, if the party fields another candidate who we are not familiar with, we can’t guarantee him support.”

Shyam Manandhar, a resident of Balaju,  said, “Manandhar had promised that those who houses were demolished during the road expansion drive would be compensated. This is why we voted for him. We have no reason to elect someone else who cannot solve our problems.”

Samyam Shrestha, who runs a grocery store at Sorakhutte, said, “Manandhar has sold his position, which was awarded by the people. He must make public at what cost he sold his position.”

A group of people spotted there were found discussing the same topic. Talking to THT, some of the people said that the ruling party might win the by-election. Ram Bhakta Ghimire of Jitpur, Tarakeshwor Municipality, said, “Since the area is also a stronghold of Rastriya Prajatantra Party, a tough competition is likely among the candidates of NCP (NCP), Nepali Congress and the RPP.”

In the 2017 parliamentary election, RPP candidate Bikram Bahadur Thapa had secured 10,079 votes, while Manandhar had bagged 18,102 votes to win the election. The RPP candidate was supported by NC and Manadhar was a candidate of the left alliance.

Kathmandu Constituency No 7 consists of four wards (16, 17, 18 and 25) of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, three wards (1,2 and 3) of Nagarjun Municipality and three wards (3,4,5) of Tarakeshwor Municipality.

Lawmaker Manandhar is from KMC-16, which is the most populated ward in the constituency with almost 22,000 voters. The population here is higher than collective the population of both Tarakeshwor (10,000) and Nagarjun (6,000)  municipalities. Manadhar is a two-time member of Parliament from the same constituency.