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Only 12 days are left to go for the elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly members. As the voting day draws closer, candidates are busy reaching the doorstep of voters with their election agendas. The main competition in the election is usually between the candidates of political parties. But there is a craze of independent candidates in this election as no one was prohibited to file independent candidacy in a democratic system. The victory of independent candidates including Harka Sampang from Dharan, Balen Shah from Kathmandu and Gopal Hamal from Dhangadhi in local level election held in May might be the reason behind the increasing number of independent candidates in this HoR and Province Assembly elections. Analysts say that the number of independent candidates has increased in upcoming elections due to distrust towards political parties, the dissatisfied electorates and cadres due to alliance and attachment of voters shown to independent candidates during local-level election. A total of 360 candidates have filed their candidacies for 15 seats of House of Representatives member in three districts in Kathmandu Valley, and of them 128 are independent candidates, which is 35.55 per cent of the total candidacy. Similarly, 340 candidates have filed their candidacies for 30 seats for Province Assembly in these three districts. Of them, 119 are independent candidates, which is 35 per cent. Likewise, the number of independent candidates is higher than candidates of political parties for HoR members in Kathmandu Constituency-7. There are 16 independent candidates while the number of candidates of political parties is 13. Fifteen independent candidates have filed their candidacies for the Province Assembly election in Lalitpur Constituency 1 (A) and (B). Out of 255 candidates for HoR members in Kathmandu-10, 97 are independent candidates. Similarly, 40 candidates are in the election race in Bhaktapur Constituency-2. Of them, 15 are independent candidates while 16, out of 63 candidates in Lalitpur Constituency-3, are independent candidates. Increasing wave of independent candidacy Independent HoR election candidate from the Lalitpur constituency-2, Deepesh Kumar KC, said that he believed the number of independent candidates was rising as a protest against the ‘syndicate’ system of political parties.  “People with open minds within the party usually get discouraged by the leadership as they are barred from testing their time through ballots, that’s why the trend of independent candidacy is increasing." “I am in politics with a clear mission and vision.  To a larger extent, the candidacy of mine is also for the fight for ideological independence.  The increasing wave of independent candidacy suggests a larger public realization for a change in the nation,” he said. KC will be facing Krishna Lal Maharjan of CPN (Unified Socialist), Prem Bahadur Maharjan of CPN (UML) and other seven candidates like him as his rivals in the elections. Krishna Lal who represents the ruling parties’ alliance candidate had won the previous elections as the then CPN (UML) candidate with 27,713 votes. Similarly, Rajendra Pathak who filed his independent nomination from Kathmandu-1 said free education and free health care services guaranteed by the Constitution are his prime election agenda. Pathak who was long associated in the practice of law and journalism insisted on the full implementation of the people’s fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution to see an improvement in people’s living standard.  “People’s unhindered access to electricity and drinking water is also in the election agenda of mine and I will dedicate enough time to hear the public issues regularly and do my best to get them addressed.”   He said he is in favor of revoking federalism and secularism. He was long associated with the Nepal Congress student wing Nepal Students’ Union and youth wing Nepal Tarun Dal and identified himself as independent for a year. Ranju Neupane aka Ranju Darshana, who contested in the local level election to the post of mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City in 2017, is in the election fray this time as well. She has fielded her candidacy from Kathmandu constituency number 5 as an independent. She is contesting the election to the member of House of Representatives, the lower house of the federal parliament in this election. Neupane is taking on CPN (UML)'s senior vice-president Ishwor Pokhrel and Nepali Congress youth leader Pradip Poudel as her election contenders. Similarly, social campaigner Hemraj Thapa is also in the fray in this constituency. Neupane said that she would work to promote the mental health sector. "At present every household has one or two persons who are suffering from mental health issues. The policy on mental health is also not timely. My first priority would be to address this problem," she added. Some youths, enthused after Balen Shah's and Harka Sampang's victory in the local election as independent candidates, have promoted the 'stick' election symbol as a campaign in this election. Shah and Sampang had contested the election with 'stick' as their election symbol. They have given the 'stick campaign' an organizational shape and have been campaigning for the independent candidates in this election through the 'Hamro Nepali Party' (Our Nepali Party). Engineer Aakarshan Pokhrel (Prabendra Pokhrel) who is a candidate from the Hamro Nepali Party in Kathmandu constituency number 7 says he will focus on policy-level works if elected. Pokhrel is competing with 13 candidates from political parties and an additional 16 independent candidates. Pokhrel will have to compete with CPN (Maoist Centre)'s Asmita Singh (Manushi) Yami Bhattarai, CPN (UML)'s Shyam Kumar Ghimire and UML's rebel candidate Ramveer Manandhar. Bhattarai is the common candidate of the present ruling alliance. Pokhrel who returned back to Nepal after staying in America for a long time has a reading that the people in his constituency do not have big untenable demands. He claims that these demands can be easily fulfilled. He has also made public his 10 commitments for the election. "There are several problems related to drinking water, road, poor road quality, traffic congestion, drainage, solid waste management, health and rising inflation dogging the people in this constituency. These are problems which can be easily addressed. My main focus would be on this," he said. According to him, promoting good governance, provision of free health services from the government hospitals, quality free education, clean water and development of the modern agriculture system are the present needs. Preservation and promotion of art and culture as well as the cultural heritages, increasing greenery, construction of north-south 'tourism highway' and drafting a national tourism policy and implementing it are also Pokhrel's priorities. Suman Sayami is another candidate from Kathmandu constituency number 8 on behalf of the Hamro Nepali Party. He said his main election plank is addressing the problems of the locals including those related to local roads and services. He was also the candidate for the post of mayor of Kathmandu in the last local election. He bagged 13,770 votes in the municipal election. Encouraged by this, he is now contesting the election to the member of the federal parliament. Sayami has been raising the issue of rehabilitation along with employment for the people displaced due to the road expansion works in his constituency.

The Election Commission has sought clarification from Janata Samajbadi Party candidate in Banke Constituency-2 for House of Representatives member, Mohammad Ishtiyaq Rayi. EC sought clarification from Rayi based on the complaints of a derogatory statement. A complaint was filed charging Rayi of giving a disrespectful statement against the Chairperson of Duduwa rural municipality, Surendra Chaudhary (Pappu) in the course of election campaigning. Rayi was asked to furnish written clarification to the Election Commission or the District Election Office, Banke.

Flood victims of Shuklaphant Municipality-12 have decided to press the election candidates for their commitment to solve the problems of floods and request for the votes thereafter. The flood victims have formed a struggle committee to exert collective pressure on the candidates when they come to the locality to seek votes. They have prepared eight points in the commitment paper to show to the candidates. The people have decided to vote for the candidates who sign the commitment paper and show keen interest to solve the problem of flooding they have been facing every year for a long time. "In the past, many candidates- both the winner and loser made mere verbal commitments before us. But after the election, they failed to return and work for our cause," said one of the flood victims, Laxman Rana, adding, "We, therefore, are urging them to make a written commitment this time." He, however, said only party cadres had reached them for votes, but not the candidates. "We're committed to building an embankment by making a long term project like that of Mahakali to protect the settlements of Tilki, Dubaha, Amghat, Dammalpatti, Aglipatti, Badbaika which are on the bank of Doda River. If we fail to accomplish it in three years, we resign from the post of people's representatives,” the commitment paper read. Chairman of Community Disaster Management Committee Mangal Chaudhary, stressed that the election candidates must reach the settlements which have been facing the problems of floods. They should reach the flood-affected households at least twice a year -not only in election campaigning. As many as 27 households were displaced by the recent floods.

Rastriya Janamorcha Party Chairman Chitra Bahadur KC has claimed the November 20 elections would defeat the regressive forces. Addressing an election campaign in Baglung on Monday, KC said the party which dissolved the parliament repeatedly must not be voted. The CPN-UML has therefore no moral ground to request for votes, he argued. The candidate from Baglung-1 on behalf of the ruling alliance, KC reminded that the five-party alliance was formed for the protection of the constitution and system. He warned if the UML secures victory, the constitution will be destroyed and monarchy will return. Time has come for the people to be alert of it, he added. Saying that the UML and its leader KP Oli had lost moral ground, KC said that they should be defeated in the elections. KC said that he wanted to be elected as a member of the parliament to take initiatives to make law and policy for people's development.  

The government and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have reached an agreement for the investments in the nuts and fruits in the hilly area project. The government bears about $14.5 million (approximately Rs 1.88 billion) for the project while a $60 million (around Rs 7.79 billion) concessional loan from the Ordinary Capital Resources. Similarly, the financing includes a $10 million (approximately Rs 1.30 billion) grant from the Asian Development Fund, and the ADB will administer a $9 million (around Rs 1.17 billion) grant from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme. The agreement was signed between the Finance Secretary Krishna Hari Pushkar, and the ADB Country Director for Nepal, Arnaud Cauchois amid a function. The project will benefit over 30,000 households in Province 1 and Bagmati, Gandaki, Karnali and Sudurpaschim provinces, mainly through the development of around 10,000 hectares of climate-resilient fruit and nut orchards. Nepal faces increasing demand for fruits and nuts due to organization, income growth and improved knowledge of nutrition which is not met by domestic production. The commercial farming of fruits and nuts in Nepal remains marginal and the abandonment of cultivable land in hilly areas is increasing as people are switching to other off farm employment and relying on external remittances. "In this context, the project will help to take advantage of the country's favorable agro-climatic conditions to produce quality horticulture crops and will support the government's declaration of the 2016-2026 Fruit Decade," said Finance Secretary Pushkar. Stating that the agreement is a key part of the ADB's overall efforts to address potential risks on food, ADB Country Director for Nepal, Cauchois said, "Through this project we will support improving the livelihood and climate resilience of horticulture farmers in the hilly areas of the five provinces of Nepal."

The construction of the 132-KV Sunwal Substation aims to address the power need in Nawalparasi (Bardghat Susta West) in a sustainable and reliable way has neared the final phase. Works are being undertaken with a target of bringing it into operation within a month. Now, the equipment fixing works are going on. A high- level team comprising Nepal Electricity Authority managing director Kulman Ghising, Distribution and Customer Services Directorate deputy managing director Manoj Silwal and Lumbini Province Office Director Nawaraj Ojha recently made a field visit to the construction site to take the progress reports. On the occasion, the team urged the bodies concerned to ensure its operation within a month. The NEA hopes once the Sunwal Substation comes into operation, the power issues in Parasi will be addressed.  It is expected to be a reliable source of power supplies to big industries including cement and steel in the Parasi area. Two 220 and 132 kV substations have been constructed at Sunwal Municipality-13 in Nawalparasi. Construction of a 400 kV transmission line extending up to Gorakhpur in India will take place in Butwal with grants by the US Millennium Challenge Corporation. Construction of a new 220 kV transmission line expanding 21 kilometers is underway. A delay in the land acquisition process and the approval to chop down trees for the project has made the matter worse, said Ghising. Bhairahawa in Rupandehi is getting an unhindered supply of electricity, thanks to the construction of a 132 kV double circuit transmission line, and a substation expanding from Yogikuti (Butwal) up to Mainhiya, said Directorate’s deputy managing director Silwal.  

Chief Election Commissioner Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya has said the Election Commission was all prepared to hold the elections to the Member of the House of Representatives and Province Assembly in a safe, peaceful and credible way. Voting for the twin elections is taking place on November 20 in a single phase. Launching the Joint Election Operation Center at the Election Commission today, he said the EC was all prepared to make the voting and the vote counts fully secured with the aim of making election results fully credible. According to him, newly designated polling centers are mandated to have direct and regular contacts with the polling stations, take updates about whether employees reach the working stations and know about the situation of ongoing voter education at the local level. Similarly, it is also authorized to facilitate the implementation of the election code of conduct, cultivate cooperation with the district-based election command cell, and cooperate and coordinate in safely organizing voting and transporting ballot boxes after voting. As he said, a mechanism has been created to address immediate any needs required in the course of the management of resources, security arrangements and the observation during the elections. The Center led by the Commission's secretary comprises joint-secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs and first- class officers from all four security bodies was established as per the Election Security and Monitoring Directive.

Democratic Samajbadi Party (DSP) Chairperson Mahantha Thakurhas said that it is a compulsion for his party to forge electoral alliances with various parties in the November 20 elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly. Thakur said this while addressing the party's election manifesto unveiling program in Jaleshwor, the headquarters of Mahottari district, on Sunday. "The collaboration with various big parties in the elections is for further empowering the Madhesi people," he said, adding that the party had to forge electoral alliances to fulfil the voices raised in the course of the Madhes movement and to impart justice to the Madhes. "We need to have our friends who are languishing in jail released and the trumped-up political charges against them revoked. We also need to address the pending issues of citizenship and constitution amendment. At the same time, we need to secure the rights for the Madhesi people," the DSP Chairman said. Responding to journalists' queries, Thakur said the Democratic Samajbadi Party is capable enough of securing the rights for the Madhesi people and addressing their problems. The party has expressed its commitment through the election manifesto to guaranteeing the rights and interests of the Madhes and Madhesis, including citizenship, education and health as well as protecting democracy, establishing federalism with identity, continuity of the parliamentary system, building a concrete and pragmatic foreign policy in the national interest and a society based on good governance, integrity and free from corruption. The DSP's election manifesto also emphasizes on women empowerment, youth empowerment and building a robust national economy. Party leaders Sarat Singh Bhandari, Anil Kumar Jha and Umakanta Jha jointly unveiled the party's election manifesto on the occasion.