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With the Election Commission barring contractors from filing candidacy in the upcoming local level elections, there have been several reports of construction company owners transferring their firms to their relatives’ names. 

Most of these reports have come from places like Bajura, Pyuthan, Jajarkot and Dhanusha. In Bajura alone, as many as 12 contractors have transferred ownership of their companies. With the May 13 polls approaching, the company registration office in the district is notably busy these days. 

Nriparaj Khatri, the incumbent ward chair of Budinanda Municipality-1, recently transferred ownership of his company, Lokmani Construction and Order Suppliers, in his daughter’s name. Earlier, he was operating a construction company while also holding the post of ward chairman. He wishes to contest in the upcoming local polls for a second term. 

A Congress member, Khatri recently registered his company in the name of his daughter Netru. 

Hari Bahadur Rokaya of Gaumul Rural Municipality, Kali Bahadur Shahi of Jagannath Rural Municipality and Krishnaraj Padhyay of Budinanda Municipality are other construction company owners who, like Khatri, were elected in the 2017 polls and are planning to get elected for a second term. They all have transferred ownership of their companies to the names of their close family members in the wake of the candidate criteria set by the Election Commission. 

Sundar Bista, who owns Dinesh Construction and Order Suppliers Construction, is planning to enter the race for the post of ward chairman from Budinanda-1. He had made an unsuccessful bid for the post five years ago. He too has transferred his company to his younger brother Uttam.

The number of contractors hoping to get election tickets from major political parties is also high in Pyuthan and Jajarkot districts. 

Sunil Shahi of Mallarani Rural Municipality, Pyuthan, has been involved in construction for over three decades now. He is also a CPN-UML member and the aspirant for the post of the rural municipality chair. 

Shovaram Neupane of Gaumukhi Rural Municipality, who owns Hariyali Construction Service, is another contractor who is planning to run for the post of rural municipality chair. He is also a former vice-president of the Pyuthan chapter of Contractors’ Association of Nepal and a Nepali Congress supporter. 

There are dozens of contractors in Pyuthan, eyeing for elected office in the upcoming elections. 

In Jajarkot district, Ratna Bahadur Khadka, who is the central vice-president of Federation of Contractors’ Association of Nepal, is contesting for the post of mayor from Chhedagad Municipality. 

Khadka is also the district chapter vice-president of Congress. A party meeting recently nominated his name for the mayoral candidate, sidelining eight other aspirants. 

In Janakpurdham Sub-metropolitan City of Dhanusha district, Balaram Mahato, contractor accused of financial crime, has announced to run for the post of mayor as an independent candidate. 

Mahato and his company Raman Construction are currently under investigation for VAT bill forgery and tax evasion.

Nepal reported 19 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 3, 349 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 16 returned positive. Likewise, 1, 336 people underwent antigen tests, of which four were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 49 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 520 active cases in the country.

At least 154 people were killed in Sunday's attack by gunmen on villages in Nigeria's northern Plateau state, more than three times the initial count, two community leaders said, Reuters reported.

Armed gangs in northwestern Nigeria have terrorised villagers for years through kidnappings for ransom, but they have become more brutal, killing and pillaging communities where state security agents are rarely seen.

Ya'u Abubakar, a senior councillor of Garga rural district in the Kanem local government area of Plateau told Reuters that the gunmen arrived on motorbikes and started shooting sporadically.

Houses and shops were burnt to the ground and some people who tried to hide in nearby bushes were pursued and shot and their bodies were discovered on Tuesday, he said.

Abubakar said there were mass burials as shocked communities tried to come to grips with the violent attack, according to Reuters.

"All in all we have in our records (the number) of those killed at 154, including those found in bushes," Abubakar said by phone.

Such attacks are not common in Plateau. 

But the state shares a border with Kaduna state, where suspected bandits - a loose term for gangs of outlaws carrying out robberies and kidnappings - blew up train tracks, killed eight people and kidnapped dozens last month.

Alhaji Wada, a Garga community leader said soldiers had been deployed to secure the area and were pursuing the gunmen.

"They should not be spared or forgiven," President Muhammadu Buhari said in a statement late on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Telephone services are patchy in Nigeria's rural hinterlands, making it difficult for communities to call in help from security forces, whose resources are stretched due to an Islamist insurgency in the northeast of the country.

Nepal has restricted imports of non-essential goods - including cars, cosmetics and gold - after its foreign currency reserves dropped, BBC reported.

It comes as a fall in tourism spending and money sent home by Nepalis working abroad helped drive up government debt. 

Meanwhile, the governor of the country's central bank was removed from his role last week.

Nepal's finance minister said he was "surprised" the issue was being compared with the crisis in Sri Lanka.

According to the country's central bank, Nepal Rastra Bank, foreign currency reserves fell by more than 16% to 1.17tn Nepali rupees ($9.59bn; £7.36bn) in the seven months to the middle of February.

Over the same period, the amount of money sent to Nepal by people working abroad fell by almost 5%, according to BBC.

Narayan Prasad Pokharel, deputy spokesperson at the central bank, told the Reuters news agency that the institution believed the country's foreign currency reserves were "under pressure". 

"Something must be done to restrict the import of non-essential goods, without affecting the supply of essential goods," Mr Pokharel said. 

He added that importers were allowed to bring in 50 "luxurious goods" if they paid for them in full.

"This is not banning the imports but discouraging them," Mr Pokharel said.

Last week, Nepal's government removed central bank governor Maha Prasad Adhikari from his role, without giving a reason for the decision.

Government debt in Nepal has risen to more than 43% of its gross domestic product, as officials increased spending to help cushion the economic impact of pandemic, Nepal's finance ministry said on Monday.

The ministry also said indicators of the country's economic health were "normal". 

"However, due to some pressures in the external sector, some steps have already been taken to manage imports and increase foreign exchange reserve," it said in a statement. 

Earlier in the day, finance minister Janardan Sharma said Nepal's debt was lower than other countries in the region and elsewhere, BBC reported.

Mr Sharma told reporters: "I am surprised why people are comparing with Sri Lanka". The island nation is facing its most serious economic crisis since independence from the UK in 1948.

Alex Holmes, an emerging markets economist at research firm Capital Economics also told the BBC that the situation in Nepal appears "much better than in Sri Lanka".

Nepal's foreign currency reserves are double what is considered "a comfortable minimum" and government debt "is not particularly high", Mr Holmes said.

"Of course, things will eventually regress if the current account deficit does not narrow," he added. "But crisis does not appear imminent".

Last week, Sri Lanka named a new central bank chief and almost doubled its key interest rate to help tackle soaring prices and shortages of essential goods.

In recent weeks, demonstrators have taken to the streets of the capital Colombo as homes and businesses were hit with long power cuts.

Sri Lankans are faced with shortages and rising inflation after the country steeply devalued its currency last month ahead of talks with the International Monetary Fund over a bailout, according to BBC.