Rebel Nepali Congress (NC) candidates in Bharatpur Metropolitan City and Janakpur Sub- metropolitan City have not withdrawn their candidacy despite being warned of action by the party.
Jagannath Paudel will now contest for Bharatpur mayor and Manoj Sah for Janakpur mayor after they refused to withdraw candidacy by the 5 pm deadline given by the Election Commission for withdrawing candidacy.
Paudel stood firm despite pressure from NC President and Prime Minister (PM) Sher Bahadur Deuba, NC leader Ram Chandra Paudel and CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal among others.
Deuba had sent Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand and Minister of State at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Umesh Shrestha to Chitwan on Wednesday to convince Paudel to take back his candidacy and support CPN (Maoist Center) candidate Renu Dahal. But they failed to convince Paudel despite staying in Chitwan for around 40 hours.
Durga Prasad Sharma, who had filed nominations for Bharatpur mayor, and Bhoj Raj Kaudal and Ravi Chandra Adhikari for deputy mayor as independent candidates, however, withdrew their candidacy before the deadline expired.
Sharma is Bharatpur incharge of Netra Bikram Chand led CPN, Kaudel is from NC and Adhikari from Maoist Center.
Likewise, Manoj Sah, who had filed candidacy for mayor after resigning as President of Janakpur Congress, did not withdraw his candidacy despite NC leader Bimalendra Nidhi trying to convince him for withdrawing candidacy in a long discussion on Thursday, according to a source close to Sah.
The ruling coalition had decided to field candidate for Janakpur mayor from Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) despite protest by Nidhi and local leaders.
“He is already into campaigning opening a contact office. How will he withdraw candidacy?” a leader close to Sah told Setopati.
Sah, who had lost in the election for mayor even in the last election, will again contest for the post.
