From Kantipuroneline: Nominations filed for only a fourth of total municipal seats Kantipur Report KATHMANDU, Jan 26 - As the deadline for the candidates to register for the upcoming municipal elections ended Thursday evening, nominations were filed for less then one-fourth of the total seats of the municipalities across the country. Candidates have filed their registration in only about 1000 of the total 4146 posts in the 58 municipalities across the country. 236 mayoral candidates, 192 deputy mayoral candidates, 706 ward chairman candidates and 1943 ward member candidates have filed their registrations, the Election Commission informed at 8:30 this evening. About one third of the total candidates who registered for the polls today are expected to be elected unopposed, including mayoral candidates in six municipalities. As the mainstream political parties including the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, Nepali Congress-Democratic, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP)-Rana faction, Rastriya Janashakti Party, Samyukta Jana Morcha, Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party and Nepal Sadbhawana Party (Anandidevi) have announced to boycott the polls, no single candidate from the recognized national political parties has registered for the municipal polls. Most of the candidates who filed their nominations at the Election Commission (EC) represent the parties of royal cabinet members while a majority of them are independent and newly registered smaller parties. A large number of candidates across the country are from Home Minister Kamal Thapa-led RPP and royal cabinet members Badri Prasad Mandal’s Sadbhawana Party, Narayan Singh Pun’s Nepal Samata Party, RPP-Rastrabadi. Due to the Maoist threat and the agitating seven-party alliance’s appeal to actively boycott the elections, no such significant number of candidates registered their candidacy. Ten persons have filed their candidacy for the post of Mayor in the Kathmandu Metropolis while eight have filed for the post of deputy mayor. Rajaram Shrestha from Kamal Thapa-led Rastriya Prajatantra Party is among the possible mayoral candidates. Shrestha, along with more than 100 candidates for the posts of ward chairmen and members, registered his nominations at the Rastriya Sabha Griha, the venue for the registration in Kathmandu today. Chairman of the Save the Nation party, Prachandalal Shrestha and chairman of Social Democratic Party, Shanta Chitrakar also filed their nominations for the post of mayor of the Kathmandu Metropolis. However, some of the wards of the Kathmandu Metropolis have remained vacant as nobody filed their registrations. The Election Commission did not provide the name list of the ward chairmen candidates of Kathmandu. Only a few people were seen entering the election venue at Pradarashani Marg this afternoon to register their candidacies for the posts of ward chairmen and members of the Kathmandu Metropolis. Likewise, four persons filed their candidacy for the post of mayor in Lalitpur Sub-Metropolis while seven filed for the post of deputy mayor. In Kirtipur, three mayoral candidates and one deputy mayoral candidate filed their candidacy. Amidst tight security, the political activists from the alliance chanted anti-election slogans around the Election Commission in the capital today. Most of the candidates were seen encouraged by the government announcement of providing insurance to all the candidates taking part in the polls. The EC said it will provide an insurance of Rs 700,000, Rs 600,000 for mayor and deputy mayors respectively and Rs. 500,000 for the candidates of the post of ward chairman. Meanwhile, Maoist rebels have abducted a mayor candidate in Guleriya, Bardiya. The rebels abducted Ram Kumar Tharu, who is a central member of Nepal Sadbhawana Party, from his residence Wednesday night, according to family sources. Four candidates have registered the mayoral candidacy for the Madhyapur Thimi Municipality. In Bhaktapur Municipality, just a single nomination for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor each were filed today, while five mayoral and two deputy mayoral candidates offered their candidacy at Thimi Municipality. A possible candidate carrying a flag with a pro-republican slogan was barred from filing his candidacy in Bhaktapur. Police stopped Bhani Prasad Kheju from entering the district administration office to file his candidacy. In Biratnagar, Puspa Raj Dahal, an independent candidate was the only person to offer a candidacy. All together 30 people have filed their candidacy for the posts of ward chairperson in Biratnagar, according to our correspondent. However, in Palpa’s Tansen Municipality, no registration has been made till this afternoon. In Pokhara Sub-Metorpolis, six persons filed their candidacy for the post of mayor while only one person offered his candidacy for the post of deputy mayor. Seven of the total 18 wards of the Pokhara Sub-Metropolis are without any candidates. Bhimsen Thapa, of the Thapa-led RPP, is among the mayoral candidates in Pokhara. Our Baglung correspondent reports two persons each have offered their candidacy for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor in the Baglung Municipality. Reports from Dang say two mayoral candidates filed their candidacy at Tribhuvan Municipality while three candidates offered their candidacy for the post of mayor at Tulsipur Municipality. Likewise, four persons each filed for the post of mayor at Itahari and Siddartha Nagar municipalities while at Dharan and Bharatpur municipalities five persons each filed their candidacies. In Nepalgunj, of the three mayoral candidates who filed their candidacy, Bhuwan Krishna Shrestha form Rastrabadi Milan Kendra withdrew his candidacy after his wife’s request. Our correspondent Janak Nepal says Shrestha’s wife went to the election registration venue and emotionally appealed to her husband. Reports coming in say two mayoral candidates each in Bhadrapur, Mechinagar, Birendra Nagar and Lahan offered their candidacy while one each in Sirha, Dhankuta, Butwal and Tansen filed their nominations today. However, no candidacy was registered at Tansen for other posts. Similarly, three mayoral candidates each in Khandbari, Kamala Mai, Ram Gram and Lekhnath municipalities offered their candidacies. Meanwhile, the Nepali Congress party, Morang, today expelled Binod Aryal from the party’s general membership for five years after he filed his mayoral candidacy in Morang. According to our correspondents, eight mayoral candidates filed their candidacy at Birgunj Municipality while seven candidates each filed their candidacy at Hetauda and Bara municipalities. Most of the posts in the several municipalities across the country remained vacant due to the alliance’s appeal to boycott the elections and the Maoists’ threat to take action against those who participate in the elections. The Chief Election Commissioner today said that the Commission is planning to bring a new registration programme for the vacant posts of the municipalities. (snn)