The ruling coalition parties have been working hard to form a coalition for the local elections to be held on May 13, 2022.
The Nepali Congress, the CPN (Maoist Center), the CPN (Unified Socialist), the Rastriya Janamorcha and the Janata Samajwadi Party, which are coordinating the alliance in Kailali, have met several times to decide the distribution of candidates at the local level. However, so far no agreement has been reached on the distribution. Coalition parties have already presented their demands in the meeting.
Since none of the parties have given up their demands, it has been difficult to distribute the candidates. It is said that no progress has been made despite repeated informal and formal meetings between the coalition parties. Apart from winning the previous election in the district, the Nepali Congress at four levels and the CPN-Maoist Center at four levels have claimed the chief position. The CPN-U, which was formed after the UML split, has claimed to be the head of five municipalities.
District Secretary of the Nepali Congress, Nrip Sunar, said that there was a problem in reaching consensus when some parties claimed to be the head of the municipality which is beyond their status. He said, "Even though the claim of the CPN (Maoist Center) seems to be justified, there is a problem when the CPN-Unified Socialists claim more than their status." CPN-Maoist Center leader Ramesh Dhami said that despite continuous meetings and discussions between the coalition parties, no agreement has been reached so far.
CPN (Maoist Center) leader Ramesh Dhami said, "We will compete in the election by coordinating as much as possible. If there is no coordination, we will compete healthily among the coalition parties. He said that the Janata Samajwadi Party and Rastriya Janamorcha, which are participating in the alliance, are claiming for the post of ward chairman and member instead of the chief and deputy chief of the municipality.
In the local level election of 2017 AD, UML won seven seats, Congress won three seats and CPN-Maoist won two seats. The then Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, which won a one-tier chief, merged with the Democratic Congress. It has been stated that there is a problem in reaching consensus even though the organizational condition and mass base of the Unified Socialists are not clear. It is said that despite the growing aspirations of all the parties to be candidates at the municipal level, efforts are being made to reach consensus among the parties. Attempts are being made between the parties to decide the candidate by studying the analysis of the votes obtained in the previous election.
Claiming victory in the election of the candidate from the alliance, the leaders and cadres of those parties have said that the aspirations of all the parties have started increasing. The CPN-UML, which is out of the five-party alliance, is also holding discussions with RPP and Pariwar Dal to coordinate the election. Though discussions are being held with RPP and Parivar Dal, no concrete agreement has been reached, said UML leader Ran Bahadur Chand. "UML is preparing to go to the polls alone."
The party has not yet decided on its candidate for the district. A meeting of the UML provincial committee on Sunday will decide on the candidate. The Citizens' Liberation Party, formed under the leadership of Reshmalal Chaudhary's wife, who was convicted by the court in the Tikapur incident, has already decided on the candidate for the post of chief of the three municipalities in its area of influence.
District Chairman of the party Kailash Chaudhary informed that the candidates for the post of Tikapur Municipality, Bhajani Municipality and Janaki Village Chief have already been decided. It is said that the party is going to field its candidates in 11 out of 13 constituencies of the district.
The party is considered strong in the eastern part of the district, Tikapur and surrounding areas. In the election of 2017, Reshmalal Chaudhary had won from that constituency (Kailali Constituency No. 1) with a majority of votes. The party also won a seat in the state assembly.
READ ALSO:
