Ramechhap, October 29

With the nomination of poll candidates and their publicity campaign for the first phase of provincial and parliamentary election slated for November 26 kicking off, Ramechhap has been gripped by the election fever of late.

There are two constituencies for state assembly and one constituency for  the House of Representatives in the district.

Election related activities of the district have been intensified after formation of the democratic and left alliances. The upcoming election is now a hot topic in each shop, chowk, house, hotel, market places and rural areas of Ramechhap.

CPN-UML and CPN- Maoist Centre were the closest rivals in the previous elections.

Nepali Congress has won elections only twice in Constituency 2 since 1992; while candidates of the CPN-MC have been victorious in constituencies 1 and 2 most of the time. UML candidates were second in terms of the number of votes garnered in the first and the second CA elections in the district.

State minister without portfolio from the CPN-MC Shyam Kumar Shrestha is the common candidate of the left alliance for parliamentary polls, while UML District Chair Shanti Prasad Poudel and former District Development Committee chair Kailash Prasad Dhungel are contesting provincial polls from the district.

Nepali Congress has picked Purna Bahadur Tamang as its candidate for parliamentary elections while Ratna Bahadur Karki and Jit Bahadur Thapa Magar have been picked as the NC’s provincial election candidates from the district.

Both Pashupati Shamsher Rana and Kamal Thapa-led Rastriya Prajatantra Party have backed the democratic alliance.

The CPN-ML, Naya Shakti Party-Nepal, Socialist Forum Nepal, among half-a-dozen party candidates, besides two independents, are in the fray.

Civil Society leader Ram Chandra Biyogi said that there will be cut-throat competition among candidates of the left alliance and the democratic alliance. Both the alliances have started their election publicity campaign in coordination with the Office of the Chief Returning Officer from today.