Siraha, June 14

Election-related activities for the second phase of local level polls in Siraha have been adversely affected following the agitating Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal’s four-day general strike that started yesterday.

With the second round of civic polls just around the corner, political parties in the district have launched their publicity campaigns. Now they have been forced to halt their scheduled programmes due to the strike.

Nepali Congress district Secretary Upendra Yadav said the party’s election publicity campaigns had stopped due to the RJP-N’s bandh. “Strike has created confusion over whether the polls will again be postponed,” he added. He said the NC had yet to finalise its candidates for the different levels, except for its mayoral candidate in Golbazaar Municipality.

CPN-UML district leader Ashok Yadav said all election-related activities have been affected due to the strike. “Our door-to-door campaigns and publicity activities, among others, have been affected, but the party’s internal programmes are under way,” he added. He said the party had been preparing for the polls. He further informed that except for one municipality and one rural municipality in the district, the UML had finalised its candidates for all seven municipalities and 10 rural municipalities, .

Similarly, CPN-Maoist Centre is preparing the final list of candidates alongside its election campaign. The party’s scheduled programmes have been affected due to the bandh.

NC Siraha election coordination committee head Ram Kumar Yadav said the party’s homework for elections were under way. “Our publicity campaigns have stopped for now, following the strike,” he added.

Likewise, other Madhes-based parties’ publicity campaigns have also been affected due to the general strike.  The parties said they were preparing for the polls. Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal said that the party had yet to finalise its candidates for the local levels, despite the fact that candidacy nomination date was closer.