Almost all female candidates in Achham have prioritised compulsory education to girls in their election agenda.

Many of them have pledged compulsory education for every girl child until grade 12 as a solution to end all forms of discrimination against women and to empower women in their areas. 

As one of the least developed districts in the country, Achham has a high illiteracy rate. The female candidates contesting in the June 28 local elections want to change that.

Anuradha Swar, who is vying for the post of chairperson of Ramaroshan Village Council from the Nepali Congress, believes that gender discrimination and gender-based violence stem from lack of education.

“If women and girls are educated, then I believe they can stand up for themselves, become financially and socially independent, and give them the courage to fight the social ills like caste or gender-based discrimination and the Chhaupadi tradition,” she said.

Chhaupadi, a practice where girls and women are banished to cattle sheds or makeshift huts during their period and after childbirth, is still widespread in many parts of Achham. Several incidents of rape and death of girls and women due to wildlife attack and exposure to extreme cold have occurred in Chhaupadi sheds over the years.   

“It is only through education that we can bring an end to Chhaupadi and protect the lives of our girls and women,” said Swar, who also happens to be the only female candidate running for the post of chairperson in all 10 local units in Achham.

Like Swar, Sarita Upadhaya is another female candidate who has promised to educate girls and take the initiative to make women socially and financially independent. She is in the race for the position of deputy mayor of Mangalsain Municipality from the CPN-UML.

“It is high time that woman leaders took up the cudgels for girls and women in their areas who have long suffered gender-based discrimination. If I am elected I will invest my efforts and energy in promoting education for our daughters. It is the only way to build a just and equitable society,” she said.

Nepal-India joint patrol at Kanchanpur border 

KANCHANPUR: The Armed Police Force (APF) and Indian Shasatra Seema Bal (SSB) have started a joint patrol in around 22 kilometres no-man’s-land area near Mahakali Municipality in Kanchanpur in the run-up to the June 28 local elections. APF Inspector Phadindra Shah said they were patrolling the border with the SSB personnel on a daily basis to control cross-border crimes and criminal activities. Border security is of paramount importance ahead of the elections, he added.

Voters tired of hearing lofty electoral promises

GULARIYA: The voters living in Ratnapur, Kalabanjar and Tepari in Bardiya are tired of electoral promises made by political parties and their candidates. Once the election is over, those promises mean nothing to them, they say. Raju Gediya of Ratnapur said it is always during the election season that politicians find time to visit poor neighbourhoods and villages to ask for votes. They promise of bringing development and prosperity only to disappear until the next election season, he added. Ramlakhan Lodh of Ashapur said the people in his village were not optimistic about local elections. In the past elections, he said, these same parties had come to our village and promised to end the perennial water shortage and  build health facility and school. They are peddling the same promises this time as well, he added. 

RPP candidates attacked

ITAHARI: A group of three motorcycle-borne assailants attacked the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) candidates in Itahari, Sunsari, on Tuesday night. Shyam Pokharel and Khadga Kumar Shrestha, the RPP candidates for ward chairman and ward member of Itahari Sub-metropolis-9, were attacked with sharp-edged weapons. 

IED goes off in candidate’s house

KHOTANG: An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was set off by unknown persons at the house of a CPN-UML candidate at Rupakot Majhuwagadhi Municipality-8 in Khotang on Tuesday night. Police said  the IED was planted at the house of Lila Chauhan, the UML ward chairman candidate for Rupakot Majhuwagadhi-8. Lila’s sister-in-law Sakuntal sustained minor injuries in the incident, police said. A second IED found at the scene was defused by a bomb disposal squad sent by the Nepal Army (NA). Meanwhile, an IED was recovered at Jayaprithvi Municipality-6 in Bajhang on Wednesday. The IED could belong to the insurgency era, police said, adding that it was defused by a team from the NA.