KATHMANDU: Bagmati Province Maoist Center has issued a whip to vote for National Assembly (NA) candidate Khim Lal Devkota.

Maoist Center Bagmati Deputy In-charge Hit Man Shakya, Province Chairman Narayan Dahal and parliamentary party (PP) leader Shalikram Jammarkattel issued a joint statement Monday urging voters to cast their ballot to Devkota.

It is the duty of supporters of federalism to cast their vote for Devkota, who is an expert on federal structure. It added that another candidate Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’, who belonged to the party before defecting to the CPN-UML, had worked against federal Nepal and the party.

Devkota was backed by a coalition of Nepali Congress, Maoist Center, Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) and Nepal-Khanal faction of ruling CPN-UML.

According to the Election Commission, there are 5,280 votes of 110 Provincial Assembly members and 4,284 votes of 238 chiefs and deputy chiefs of local units, totaling 9,564 votes in the NA by-election.

The NA by-election is taking place on May 20.