KATHMANDU: As many as 12,789 independent candidates are contesting for various posts in the upcoming May 13 local level elections.

The Election Commission (EC) has said it is providing election symbols to them out of 40 different types of election symbols today.

The forty election symbols include cat, toad, eagle, banana, rose, head of he-goat, zebra, wild boar, wild water buffalo, pineapple, crow, bear, kangaroo, duck, mango, lantern, clock tower, log, pressure cooker, gas cylinder, ornament, blouse, frock, chulesi, tap, tyre, and rickshaw.

The Commission has arranged a list of electoral symbols in the schedule 27 of the local level election directory for the independent candidates.

Independent candidates, however, have no facility to choose election symbols of their choice, according to Shaligram Sharma Paudel, the spokesperson of the EC.