CHITWAN: An agreement has been reached between Nepali Congress and CPN-Maoist Centre to support each other in the re-election of the Bharatpur Metropolitan City-19 in Chitwan district.

Earlier, Maoist representatives had torn ballot papers during the vote counting of the ward number 19. Subsequently, the vote counting of the BMC-19 was halted.

Out of 29 wards in the Metropolis, vote counting of ward number 19 was on the final round; however, the vote count of ward number 20 was yet to begin.

Election Commission of Saturday made the decision of re-election of ward number 19 of the Metropolis with much dismay to the CPN-UML.

As per the agreement, CPN-Maoist Centre would support the Nepali Congress for the positions of ward chairperson and members of the ward while NC would support the CPN-Maoist Centre mayoral candidate Renu Dahal.

Maoist candidate Dahal is the daughter of caretaker government's Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

NC is also vying for the deputy mayor in the Metropolis. Parbati Shah Thakuri is on the driver's seat to be re-elected as the deputy mayor of the Bharatpur Metropolis.

According to Ishwori Bhattarai, the Maoist Centre in-charge of Chitwan district, the joint meeting of both the parties, NC and Maoist decided to comply with the agreement reached between them.

NC's Karna Bahadur Gurung has fielded his candidacy for ward chairperson in the ward while Khadka Bahadur Gurung has vied for the same post from Maoist Center.

Meanwhile, the meeting welcomed EC's decision, demanding that a new date should be set for reelection at the earliest.

Earlier, the local level elections were held in 34 districts of province number 3, 4 and 6 for selecting local representatives in 283 local units.

The second phase of local level election is slated for June 28 in 43 districts of province number 1, 2, 5 and 7. Election Commission has said that preparations are underway to hold the second phase of local polls.

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With inputs from Rastriya Samachar Samiti