Hetauda, May 4

Seven candidates have withdrawn their nomination in Hetauda Sub-metropolis within the deadline given by the Election Commission.

Of the candidacies that were withdrawn, three were filed for the post of mayor, one for deputy mayor, two for ward chairperson and the next one for ward member.

The mayoral candidates who have taken back their nominations are CPN-MC Candidate Kumari Moktan, and independent candidates Bharat Bahadur Thapa and Gyan Bahadur Gole.

The deputy mayoral candidate who has backed off is Laxmidevi Shrestha from Nepali Congress.

Similarly, Hem Prasad Adhikari and Ganesh Bahadur Bhulun have taken back their nominations for ward chairperson from Hetauda Ward 7 and 15 respectively, said the Office of the Election Officer of Hetauda.

One more candidate who had earlier filed his nomination for ward member is also learnt to have withdrawn his nomination.

A total of 18 candidates had got their nominations registered for the mayoral post in Hetauda. Another 13 candidates, including four independent ones, registered their nomination for the post of deputy mayor.

With the nomination of four candidates withdrawn from the top two positions in the sub-metropolis, now there will be 15 and 12 candidates trying their luck for the mayoral post and the post of deputy mayor respectively.

Meanwhile, the fight for mayoral post has become more interesting given the claim of two brothers for the same post from different political parties. As neither of the candidates has withdrawn candidacy, Hari Bahadur Mahat of UML and his brother Bhimsen Mahat of CPN-ML are all set to vie for the top position. While Hari Bahadur is the UML district secretariat member and former deputy mayor, his brother Bhimsen is a CPN-ML central member and party district secretary.

Earlier, a total of 495 candidates had filed their nominations for different posts in Hetauda Sub-metropolis.