--- Few glimpses of "New Model of Democracy"---
Kin cry foul against ‘forced’ candidacies
Kantipur Report
KATHMANDU, Jan 29 - It was on Thursday, January 26, 2006, the final day to file candidacy for the proposed February 8 municipal elections. The deadline was 5:00 p.m. Having no interest in politics, Ganga Nanda Banepali, 50, of Bhaktapur-3 preferred to stay home that day.
He got a call at 6:45 p.m. All of a sudden, after finishing the conversation, Ganga said, "I am standing for the post of Ward Chairman." He prepared to go out, according to his sons.
"When needed, I will call you" were his final words before leaving home. Till Saturday there was no sign of him and neither has he made any calls home.
Bijaya Nanda and Sachita Nanda, sons of Ganga, who came to The Kathmandu Post office on Saturday to find their father's whereabouts, said though his father was a totally apolitical man, his name has figured in an Election Commission (EC) notice as a candidate of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party - Thapa (RPP-T).
They were surprised to see his name there because he had left home after the 5:00 p.m. deadline, which had passed by almost two hours.
"We appeal to him to withdraw his candidacy and come home," Bijaya Nanda told the Post. In case he has been "abducted", he requested the EC to remove his name from the candidates list.
Till now, two unknown persons called his home to say that "Ganga Lal was safe".
"Somebody must have deceived him into filing the candidacy," said Bijaya Nanda, who believes that his father is secretly being kept somewhere.
The following are some of the incidents of forcible filing of candidacy in various parts of the country (Ganga Lal also may have undergone a similar situation):
DANG - Security personnel went to the houses of potential candidates of Tribhuvan Nagar Municipality and "arrested" them for their "security".
All of them have been lodged in a government office. Many people who happened to go out on the day of nominations were lured to file their candidacy papers.
Dima Bhandari of Ward No. 8, was taken to the Samata Party, made to sign on a blank sheet of paper and was told that she would be given a loan without interest.
She was surprised to learn through the media that her name had figured in the candidates' list. She was shortly "arrested", leaving her family members in worry. Those in custody have not been allowed to meet media persons.
NEPALGUNJ - Fearing that the only Deputy Mayoral candidate Arun Thapa would withdraw his candidacy, local administration on Friday sent him to Kathmandu.
Sources said he was made to board a Buddha Air flight at 5:30 p.m. Before being sent to Kathmandu, he was kept under security surveillance.
KAKARBHITTA - Potential candidates of Mechi Municipality have been confined to the Municipality office and have been restricted from going outside, with no chance of withdrawing their candidacy.
"I had come to the Municipality Office to settle a case, but they imprisoned me here," said Naresh Khadka, whose name has been enlisted as a candidate for Ward member of Ward No. 3 from RPP-T. "They didn't accept my withdrawal application." When the wife of Ward-12 Chairman candidate, Kishor Sharma Bhandari, asked the Zonal Administrator Shyam Kishor Singh to release her husband, he just said 'nothing would happen' before sending her home.
KATHMANDU - The authorities barred all private media persons (except those from Channel Nepal Television) from entering the City Hall, where the district election office has been set up, till 6:00 p.m.
A security officer at the gate said that they were instructed from higher-ups not to allow others, except government media and Channel Nepal to enter the venue, where a large number of candidates had converged to withdraw their candidacies.
MAHOTTARI - When a large number of candidates flooded the Municipality office here to withdraw their candidacies, election supporters barred them from entering the office. Those who were unable to withdraw their names were a worried lot.
DAMAK - As the authorities didn't allow anyone from withdrawing their names, all 30 persons who had filed their candidacies have been elected unopposed.
One of the candidates, Yuvaraj Limbu, asked his family members to convey the message to the media that security personnel didn't let him withdraw his name. Another candidate, Gopal Giri, had gone to the election office on Friday to get a withdrawal form. "But, they kept him there," his wife Devika said.
When many family members of the 'candidates' started crying at the gate and their numbers grew by the evening, they were chased away.
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