Electoral activities heat up in Biratnagar

By Our Correspondent Biratnagar, May 4: Electoral activities have heated up in Biratnagar Metropolitan City, the only metropolitan city of Province 1.

The election atmosphere in Biratnagar is at the height of discussion after Nagesh Koirala, vice-president of the Nepali Congress (NC) Morang, won the ticket for the top post from the coalition leaving behind other three popular leaders. 

Koirala's rivalry for the post of mayor and a political leap has attracted a lot of attention in the metropolitan. The race of influential NC leader Dr. Nagesh, considered close to Shekhar Koirala, has been linked with Koirala's political prestige.

Sagar Thapa, who emerged from student politics, is competing for the post of mayor from CPN-UML. Similarly, Amrendra Yadav, son of Janata Samajwadi Party chairman Upendra Yadav, has fielded his candidacy for the post of deputy mayor from coalition, further intensifying the battle for prestige in Biratnagar. 

The candidacy of Umesh Yadav, from Federal Socialist Forum who also contested for the mayoral post in 2017, and independent candidate Namita Neupane from the CPN (Maoist Centre) for the post of mayor and deputy mayor have also had an impact on the metropolitan election. 

Prahlad Shah and Babita Acharya from Rastriya Prajatanta Party have been nominated for mayoral and deputy mayoral post respectively. 

According to the Election Office, 23 out of 744 nominations have been withdrawn in Biratnagar. 

A total of 721 candidates have been fielded in the election for 97 posts. The office informed that 16 candidates for the post of mayor and 15 candidates for the post of deputy mayor have been verified.

According to the Election Office Morang, there are 62,618 female voters and 70,524 male voters in Biratnagar with a total of 133,142 voters. For NC leader Shekhar Koirala and Janata Samajwadi Party president Upendra Yadav, competition in the election is sure be an issue of prestige. 

The presence of UML candidate Sagar Thapa, who is popular among the youth, and Yadav, who gained lots of votes in the last election has added a new dimension to the battle for the only metropolitan in the province.

Likewise, fierce competition is expected between the five-party coalition and the UML in Dhankuta. The NC, CPN (Unified Socialists), Janata Samajwadi Party and the CPN (Maoist Centre) have intensified the door-to-door campaign staying in coalition. 

CPN-UML, on the other hand, is engaged in a massive election campaign for the polls to save his old areas. 

Out of the seven loc al levels in the district, Dhankuta Municipality has a majority of voters from five castes including Athpahariya, Tamang, Newar, Chhetri and Brahmin. The results of the election can be predicted easily as 15 to 20 percent of the votes can go up and down on the basis of ethnicity.

On the contrary, locals in Baitadi are not seen excited with the election campaign of the candidates. 

The issue of eliminating caste discrimination and Chhaupadi has been obscured in the election commitment of the candidates for the election. 

It has been found that the election commitment of most of the candidates is focused on development including roads and drinking water rather than social reform.

Prakash Chand, leader of Nagarik Samaj Baitadi, said that local level elections are more focused on infrastructural development than addressing major social issues in the district. 

It seems that the local level election is being held to dig roads, he added.    Chairman of the Independent Thought Forum Baitadi, Ganesh Thakurathi, said that the social issues have been overshadowed as most of the contractors with dozers are contesting polls.