Nomination concludes: 522 files candidacy for parliamentary elections; 883 for provincial election

KATHMANDU, Nov 2: The nomination process for the second phase of elections to the House of Representative and State Assemblies slated for December 7 concluded peacefully in 45 districts on Thursday.

The nomination environment remained highly excited across the country.

Till 6 pm, 1,405 candidates filed their nominations, of which 522 candidates filed their nominations for parliamentary election and 883 candidates for provincial election, according to the Joint Election Operation Centre (JEOC). They will be vying for 128 parliamentary seats and 256 province assembly members respectively.

Of the total 165 parliamentary seats, nomination for 37 House of Representatives constituencies and nomination for 74 State Assembly constituencies in the 32 districts was held on October 22.

Complaints against the candidates can be filed on November 3. The EC will investigate on the complaints on the following day. Similarly, candidates can withdraw their candidacies on November 5, after which the EC will publish the final list of candidates and provide them with election symbols.

WHICH TOP LEADER VYING FROM WHERE?

The candidates including most of the senior leaders of various political parties except Nepali Congress President and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba reached their respective constituencies to register their nominations.

Leader Deuba registered his candidacy through his agent Ganesh Panta in Dadeldhura district. Khagraj Bhatta is contesting poll against Deuba in Dadeldhura from left alliance.

Similarly, NC senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel is contesting from Tanahun district where Govinda Raj Joshi has registered his candidacy as an independent candidate while Kisan Shrestha is contesting there as the common candidate of left alliance.

NC general secretary Dr Shashanka Koirala is contesting from Nawalparasi-1 and former general secretary Bimalendra Nidhi from Dhanusha-3. Rastriya Janata Party Nepal leader Rajendra Mahato is also contesting from Dhanusha-3.

Likewise, CPN (UML) chair and former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is contesting from Jhapa-7 while Khagendra Adhikari has registered his candidacy from NC against Oli. Similarly, UML leaders Jhalanath Khanal and Subhas Nembang are contesting from Ilam-1 and 2.

UML leader and former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and general secretary Ishwar Pokharel are contesting from Kathmandu-2 and 5, respectively.

NC’s Deepak Kuinkel and Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat are contesting from Kathmandu-2 and 5, respectively.

CPN (UML) vice chair Bamdev Gautam is contesting from Bardiya-1 where NC candidate Sanjay Gautam has registered his candidacy. Similarly, UML vice chair Bhim Rawal is contesting from Achham-1 where Bharat Kumar Swar is contesting from NC in the same constituency.

Similarly, CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is contesting from Chitwan-3 as a common candidate of the left alliance where Bikram Pandey of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Democratic) is contesting as the common candidate from the democratic alliance.

Maoist Candidate leader Narayan Kaji Shrestha is contesting from Gorkha-2 as a common candidate of left alliance where Dr Baburam Bhattarai is contesting there as the democratic alliance candidate.

Maoist Centre leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara is contesting from Dang-2 where Raju Khanal has registered his candidacy from the NC.

MC spokesperson Pampha Bhusal is contesting from Lalitpur-3.

Likewise, Federal Socialist Forum Chair Upendra Yadav is contesting from Saptari-2 where leftist alliance candidate Umesh Kumar Yadav is in the race.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chair Kamal Thapa is contesting as the common candidate from democratic alliance in Makawanpur-1 where left alliance candidate Krishna Prasad Dahal is in the same field.

RJP-N presidium coordinator Mahantha Thakur is contesting from Mahottari-3 where his party’s outgoing lawmaker Chandreshwar Jha has registered his candidacy as an independent candidate.

(This article is also contributed by Ramesh Lamsal/RSS.)