The stalled vote count at Baragadhi Rural Municipality in Bara could not resume on Wednesday. The local administration and election officials attempted to resolve the dispute among major political parties, but to no avail.

Representatives of the Nepali Congress, the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre) had boycotted the vote count on Tuesday, accusing the election officers of opening the ballot boxes in their absence. 

They have demanded a re-election in ward no 6 of the rural municipality. 

Meanwhile, Chief District Officer Bijaya Narayan Manandhar has requested NC leader Farmullah Mansoor, UML leader Balbir Chaudhary and Maoist Centre leader Jwala Sah to settle the dispute through dialogue so that the vote count could be resumed. 

Election Officer Ramesh Ghimire said since Wednesday’s all-party meeting could not find any solution to the dispute, they were waiting for the Election Commission’s decision on the matter.

SSF-N claims 31 ballot papers are missing

The Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal staged a protest at Tilathi Koiladi Rural Municipality-8 in Saptari on Wednesday, claiming that 31 ballot papers have gone missing from the vote counting centres. Of the total 1,441 votes cast, only 1,410 votes were counted in two vote-counting centres, the SSF-N claimed. Satya Narayan Yadav, ward chairman candidate of the SSF-N, accused the enumerators of hiding the ballot papers. Meanwhile, Laxmi Prasad Mandal, ward chairman candidate of the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal, won the election in the ward by 19 votes. 

Rajbiraj-15 votes today 

The election office in Saptari is holding the local elections for ward 15 of Rajbiraj Municipality in Saptari on Thursday. The local polls originally set for Monday was postponed following the demise of Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal ward chairman candidate Mahanthi Yadav. Chief Election Officer Sharad Prasad Koirala on Wednesday said they had completed the necessary preparation to conduct the elections on Thursday.