KATHMANDU: The National Assembly (NA) by-elections in Bagmati province is underway in Makwanpur.
The voting has begun from 9 am. The incessant rain, which is occurring in the polling center, to some extent, has affected the by-elections.
Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa alias Badal, Chief Minister of Bagmati Pradesh Dormani Paudel and ministers of the province have reached the polling center.
Three candidates are contesting the by-elections in Bagmati Pradesh with an electoral college of 348 –110 Provincial Assembly members and 238 chiefs and deputy chiefs of 119 local units of 13 districts.
In Bagmati Pradesh, Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa alias Badal from ruling CPN-UML, Dr Khim Lal Devkota representing Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Center) and Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP), and Krishna Bahadur Tamang from Nepal Workers and Peasants Party (NWPP) are contesting the elections.
The voting to elect a member to the vacant post in the NA in Bagmati Pradesh has been underway at Bhutandevi Secondary School in Hetauda Municipality-4 since 9 am and will be continued till 3 pm today.
Badal, Devkota and Tamang have received Sun, Pen, and Madal as their election symbols, respectively.
According to Raj Kumar Shrestha, the spokesperson of the EC, there are three polling booths for the people representatives to cast their votes. Provincial Assembly lawmakers will cast their votes in booth ‘A’, representatives of local units in booth ‘B’ and booth ‘C’ have been arranged for those who are infected with COVID-19.
Devkota, who had resigned as the vice-chairman of the policy and planning commission of Bagmati Pradesh in 2076 BS, holds Ph.D. in development economics and fiscal federalism and local government analyst.
Similarly, Ram Bahadur Thapa is the incumbent Home Minister representing ruling UML. The post of NA member lay vacant after Maoist Center relieved Thapa of his post of lawmaker of the NA after he joined the UML.
For the elections of a NA member, one provincial assembly member is equivalent to 48 votes, and a chief or a deputy chief of the local units is equivalent to 18 votes, according to the EC of Bagmati Pradesh.
According to the EC, there are 5,280 votes of 110 Provincial Assembly members and 4,284 votes of 238 chiefs and deputy chiefs of local units. Hence, a total of votes will be at 9,564.
Of them, 34 Provincial Assembly members loyal to Prime Minister KP Oli faction of the CPN-UML have 1,632 votes. Twenty three Provincial Assembly members of Nepal-Khanal faction have 1,104 votes. Similarly, 23 Provincial Assembly members of Maoist Center have 1,104 votes and 22 Provincial Assembly members of NC have 1,056 votes. Likewise, there are other eight Provincial Assembly members including two of NWPP in the Bagmati Pradesh.
Under the local level, UML’s Oli faction has claimed that it has 133 chiefs and deputy chiefs. If all of them cast votes for Thapa, a total of 2,394 votes will be cast. On the other hand, the Nepal-Khanal faction has claimed to have 40 percent of chiefs and deputy chiefs in its support.
Photos: Kiran Thapa’s Facebook
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