Bardiya, January 27:

Though security arrangements have been made for the contestants of the municipal polls, their family members are having a difficult time coming to terms with the possible danger of being the relatives of poll candidates.

Family members of Rakesh Kumar Sharma, who filed candidacy for the post of mayor of the Gulariya municipality, are a worried lot. Relatives of Sharma too had urged him to withdraw his candidacy, but Sharma did not heed their request.

Bishnu Sharma, wife of Rakesh, who is quite unhappy with her husband’s decision to contest the polls, said Sharma didn’t listen to people who had suggested him not to join the poll-fray.

“Even if I die, my family will receive insurance money,” Bishnu quoted Rakesh as saying. But money isn’t everything, Bishnu noted. Grim faces of four little daughters of Sharma suggested they didn’t want their father to contest the elections.

Tenants staying in Sharma’s house said they were thinking of vacating Sharma’s home at the earliest, as there was a high chance of a ‘major incident’ occurring in Sharma’s home.

House of deputy mayoral candidate of Gulariya municipality, Rameshwor Ahir, wears a deserted look, too. Ahir’s mother, wife and children — two daughters and a son — have been crying ever since Ahir filed the nomination. They have even stopped taking their meals since Thursday morning.

Ahir’s 30-year-old wife Lalli Yadav said: “He didn’t tell us he was filing his candidacy. He said he was going to market.” A tearful Yadav said: “The Maoists have threatened to kill the candidates of the polls. Where do we go now?”

I have not been able to meet my husband since yesterday, Lalli Yadav said.

Ahir’s mother, who went to meet her son in the army camp this morning, said she urged her son to withdraw the nomination.

“He didn’t listen to me. All of us will have to suffer because of his stubbornness,” she said.

Not Sharma and Ahir alone, family members of all those who have filed their candidacies for various posts are grief-stricken. Four candidates have filed nominations for the post of mayor, two for deputy mayor, 15 for ward chairman and 11 for ward members in the Gulariya municipality.

Most of the poll candidates are from the Madhesi community.

Denial

NEPALGUNJ: Bipin Shrestha, who was said to have filed candidacy for the post of mayor of Nepalgunj municipality, issued a statement on Friday, saying he had not filed the nomination. Shrestha, who belongs to the Rastriya Prajatantra Party headed by Home Minister Kamal Thapa, said in the statement that someone had filed his nomination without his consent. The candidate for deputy mayor Arun Thapa is also learnt to have asked the District Administration Office to withdraw his nomination. Media personnel were barred from the DAO premises. — HNS