Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba will start his campaign trail in western Nepal on Tuesday.

According to Bal Krishna Khand, NC’s central elections mobilisation committee coordinator, PM Deuba will leave for Nepalgunj on Tuesday and will hold discussions with security officials and bureaucrats about the law and order situation in the region.

The PM will reach Dhangadi on Wednesday, where he will meet leaders and cadres of NC and other parties in the ‘democratic’ alliance and take stock of the situation. He will also hold meetings with regional security and administrative chiefs in Dhangadi before heading to his home district, Dadheldura on Thursday, according to the NC.

Deuba will launch his poll campaign from Dadheldura, with several elections rallies being scheduled in the districts in the western region.

He will also address elections rallies in Darchula, Bajhang, Bajura and Baitadi. He will then travel to Rukum, Rolpa, Jajarkot, Jumla, Humla and Mugu for further poll campaigns and mass meetings.

Claiming that the NC was strengthening its hold in various districts with the party’s election campaigns going in full swing, Khand said they would claim at least 80 seats in the elections under the first past the post category.

Left alliance will have a clear majority: Dahal

CHITWAN: Chairman of CPN (Maoist Centre) Pushpa Kamal Dahal has claimed that the left alliance will have a clear majority in the upcoming federal and provincial elections.

Talking to the reporters in Bharatpur on Monday, Dahal also projected that his party would garner anywhere between 30 and 40 seats in the federal elections under the first-past-the-post category.

Stating that he does not have any challenge in his constituency, the Maoist Centre chief expressed belief that he would even garner support from the victims of the Badarmude incident. He is contesting the federal parliamentary elections from Chitwan-3.

In another context, Dahal urged the government to control anti-election activities aimed against the Maoist Centre, mostly in Rolpa and Rukum districts. He accused the Nepali Congress of “colluding with the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal” to disrupt the Maoist Centre’s election campaigns.