Nominations of candidates for upper house by-polls today

KATHMANDU, May 7: Nomination of candidates for the vacant seat in the National Assembly by-elections is taking place on Friday. 

Nominations for the vacant post of National Assembly member from Bagmati Province are being registered at the office of the Election Officer in Hetauda from 10 AM to 4 APM, according to the Election Commission (EC).

The EC is holding by-polls to elect legislators in a vacant seat in the upper house of parliament that fell vacant after the former lawmaker Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’, who was elected from the CPN (Maoist Center),  was suspended as the member of parliament after he joined the ruling CPN-UML.

The by-polls have been slated for May 20. The members of the province assembly and the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of rural municipalities, mayors and deputy mayors of municipalities will cast their votes. A total of 348 voters, including 110 province assembly members and 238 chiefs and deputy chiefs of local levels are eligible to vote in the by-polls in Bagmati Province.

Opposition alliance including the Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Center) and ruling UML’s Nepal-Khanal faction has decided to field Khimlal Devkota. The ruling party UML , however, has yet to nominate its candidate for the vacant post.  Initially, the UML was preparing to field Badal, who is also the Minister for Home Affairs. 

However, Badal is reportedly hesitant to contest the election as the UML’s Nepal faction stood by the opposition alliance.

A meeting of the UML Standing Committee on Thursday could not take any decision after Badal took a stand to become a candidate only after the victory was ensured.