Nepali Congress to finalize Kirtipur mayor candidate tomorrow

Kathmandu, November 15 — The ruling party, the Nepali Congress, will finalize its candidate for the post of Kirtipur Municipality Mayor tomorrow, Saturday.

A meeting of the Provincial Parliamentary Board has been called for this purpose, according to Indra Bahadur Baniya, the president of the Nepali Congress Bagmati Province.

The by-election is scheduled for December 1, and the nomination filing date is set for November 17. However, the Congress party has yet to finalize its candidate for the Kirtipur Mayor position, which has attracted significant attention in recent days.

Baniya mentioned that it would not be wise to rush the ticket distribution and emphasized that it will be done at the right time. "We have called a meeting of the Parliamentary Board at the party headquarters in Sanepa tomorrow. We will finalize the ticket after considering everyone’s views," he said. "Rushing the ticket distribution could cause damage. We are proceeding carefully."

For the by-election, the Kirtipur Municipal Committee of the Nepali Congress had recommended 11 potential candidates. These names were reviewed by the Provincial Assembly Constituency Committee, Federal Parliament Constituency Committee, District Committee, and ultimately reached the Bagmati Province Executive Committee.

The committee has recommended Krishna Man Dangol for the top spot, followed by Badri Lal Maharjan, Himal Karki, and Jamuna Nakarmi, the wife of the late Mayor Raj Kumar Nakarmi, who passed away. Other recommended names include Sangita Bogati, Sashir Maharjan, Ram Man Singh, Janak Lal Maharjan, Min Prakash Maharjan, Kiran KC, and Sachindra Maharjan.

"We will finalize the ticket tomorrow after considering everyone’s opinion and public preference. The process will be completed," Baniya added.

The by-election is being held following the sudden death of then-Mayor Raj Kumar Nakarmi. Nakarmi had been suffering from kidney disease for a long time. He was elected as the mayor of Kirtipur from the Nepali Congress in the 2022 local elections.

In the last local election, Nakarmi won with 9,043 votes. The second-place finisher was CPN-UML candidate Kesh Ratna Bajracharya with 5,507 votes, while CPN (Maoist Center) candidate Shiva Sharan Mahajan secured third place with 4,090 votes.