Former Maoist combatants, who played with bullets during the decade-long insurgency, have chosen to fight for ballots in the upcoming local level elections.

Former “People’s Libera-tion Army” fighters are busy canvassing in Chitwan district in the lead up to the May 14 polls.

Thirty-four-year-old Sapana Rana Magar of Duisaya Bigha in Kalika Municipality-3, a former PLA member who registered her candidacy for the CPN (Maoist Centre) as a ward member, is busy going door to door asking for votes.

Magar lost her left leg in a clash with security personnel in Ghychok, Gorkha, two decades ago. “I will serve the people after winning the polls,” said Magar.

Former PLA combatant Sunmaya Bal is another ward member candidate for the ruling Maoist party in Chhapanna Bigha.

“I will take an initiative to provide land titles to the landless people if I win the election,” she said.

According to former PLA fighter Padam Bahadur Tamang, there are 115 ex-combatants living in the Chhapanna Bigha area.

“We have been asking the local administration for land ownership certificates and security of our settlement,” said Tamang. Besides the PLA combatants, there are many other landless families living in the area.

In Rukum district, three candidates, who are former PLA combatants, say they find fighting the election harder that fighting a battle. Former company commander Mohan Kishor Oli, 36, of Balle in Tribeni-1, is a ward chairperson candidate for the Maoist Centre.

“I came to know that people have high expectations from their candidates. The election is a more complicated process than war. I am taking up the challenge of wining the people’s hearts,” said a determined Oli.