A Standing Committee meeting of the CPN-UML on Saturday finalised candidates for the local federal units in Province 1.

The meeting also decided to select Binod Dhakal as the party’s mayoral candidate for the Biratnagar Metropolitan City while it entrusted Province 1 in-charge Bhim Acharya to pick the deputy mayor candidate.

The party decided to field Tara Subba for mayor and Manju Bhandari for deputy mayor in Dharan Sub-metropolitan City while Dwarika Lal Chaudhary and Laxmi Gautam have been chosen to run for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor, respectively, in the Itahari sub-metropolis.

The party also decided to nominate Samim Miya Ansari as a member of the party’s central advisory council. Ansari recently joined the party deserting the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal.

UML leader Subas Nembang said the party would finalise its candidates within a couple of days as all the leaders from the province are visiting their respective districts.