Rajbiraj, September 26

He may seem to be just another candidate elected as chief of a local level, but Surya Narayan Mandal’s victory in Chhinnamasta Rural Municipality is more than that, at least for his party Naya Shakti Nepal for which Mandal became the single elected local level chief in the recently held last phase of civic polls in Province 2.

The 62-year-old defeated his close contender by a margin of around 2,000 votes to claim the post. “There is nobody who wouldn’t be happy with victory. In my case, it’s significant as I’m the only candidate from the party to get elected to the top post of a local level,” said the chairperson-elect. “The victory is special, also because even the

party chairperson and former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai congratulated me.”

Talking to journalists about his priority as the elected representative for Chhinnamasta, Mandal, who was at the famous pilgrimage site in the east, Chhinnamasta Bhagawati shrine, to pay obeisance yesterday, pledged to develop the rural municipality as a religious pilgrimage site.

This isn’t, however, the first time Mandal has won local elections. He was elected village development committee chairperson twice in the local elections of 1991 and 1997, and is popular among locals.

“As he has proved himself a good leader who is committed to the development of our place, we voted for him,” said Bhupendra Mandal, a local. Another local Sahadev Sharma, praised the people of the rural municipality for rising above partisan interests and voting. “The people in Chhinnamasta value a candidate individually rather than his political affiliation. I’m happy they have voted for a good person this time too,” he said.

Mandal himself looked very happy about his third victory in a local election. “My win was possible because of the trust the people have in me. I’m very aware that I should not to let the voters down and will do all I can to develop this place,” he vowed.

When asked about his decision to contest from NSN, Mandal said he had decided that NSN was the best among all. “NSN was the only party whose ideology and policies, apart from the leadership, appealed to me, hence my decision to contest as an NSN candidate,” he said.