Chitwan, July 31
After the Supreme Court on Sunday ordered the Election Commission to redo polling in ward 19 of Bharatpur Metropolitan City, two front-running mayoral candidates have revived their electioneering.
CPN-UML’s Devi Gyawali and CPN-Maoist Centre’s Renu Dahal say they are ready to face the polls again as ordered by the court.
The city had held local level elections on May 14 and vote counting was underway while some Maoist cadres reportedly torn 90 ballot papers in May last week. The vote counting had been halted since then.
After some days, the Election Commission had decided to redo voting in ward 19, from where the ballot papers had been torn. However, the UML had objected to the decision and made two of its supporters file a writ against the decision at the Supreme Court.
The Court, then, had stayed the decision.
But, the Court had upheld the Commission’s decision yesterday and quashed the writ.
“The Court did not give me justice. Therefore, I will go to the people begging for justice,” UML’s mayoral contender Gyawali says, “I have not done any crime, but people who torn the priceless ballot papers are soliciting votes again.”
He was ahead of Maoist rival Renu Dahal by a margin of some dozen votes while the incident happened at midnight and the counting was halted.
Dahal is the daughter of CPN-Maoist Centre Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and supported by the ruling alliance member Nepali Congress.
“Now, the people’s votes have been recognised,” Dahal says, “The Court has protected people’s right to vote.”
Determined to expedite their campaigns, both of the candidates say they will win the polls.
