Political parties have expedited their preparations for the by-elections slated for next month in various local units.

The by-elections will be held on December 1 for various positions that went vacant due to various reasons after the local elections in 2022.

As the Election Commission has fixed November 18 for filing the candidacy, parties are busy selecting their candidates for the 44 vacant seats ranging from the chief of the district coordination committees to the ward chairpersons.

The voters from different local units will vote to elect two chiefs of the district coordination committees, chairpersons of two rural municipalities, four vice-chairs, one mayor, one deputy mayor and chairs of 34 wards. Votes will also be cast to elect chiefs of the district coordination committees in Okhaldhunga and Kailali, the mayor of Kirtipur Municipality in Kathmandu, and the deputy mayor of Nalagad Municipality in Jajarkot.

Similarly, the elections will be held to elect chairpersons of Gramthan Rural Municipality in Morang and Mahabu Rural Municipality in Dailekh, and the vice-chairs of Gaurishankar Rural Municipality in Dolakha, Sarkegad Rural Municipality in Humla and Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality in Bajura.

Additionally, elections will take place to elect ward chair positions in various local units including in the Kathmandu Metropolitan City and Kirtipur Municipality.

The Local Level Election Act, 2016 envisions by-elections to fill vacant positions such as district coordination committee heads, vice-heads, rural municipality chairs, vice-chairs, mayors, deputy mayors, and ward chairs if their term has not expired and has more than a year left with for their term. The representatives in all the vacant positions were elected on May 13, 2022 with just half of their terms completed so far.

Suman Ghimire, information officer at the commission, said the nominations can be filed during the office hours on November 17 and the list of candidates will be published by 6 pm the same day.

Anyone who has an objection to the candidacy of any contestant can lodge the complaint the next day. Similarly, candidates will be allowed to withdraw their candidacies, if they wish so, by 1 pm on October 20.

The final list of the candidates from all the vacant positions will be published the same day while the election symbols too will be allotted between 3 pm to 5 pm on the day.

“Twenty-five parties have been registered in the commission to compete in the by-polls,” said Ghimire.

According to the constitutional poll management body, the mayoral and deputy mayoral candidates can spend a maximum of Rs450,000, rural municipality chairs and vice-chairs are allowed to spend up to Rs350,000 while the aspirants for the district coordination committee chief and deputy can spend up to Rs50,000.

Rs300,000 is the maximum amount the candidates for metropolitan city ward chairs can spend but the ceiling is Rs200,000 and Rs150,000 for the ward chairpersons of the municipality and rural municipality, respectively.

The main opposition CPN (Maoist Centre) is ahead of other major parties in candidate selection. It has decided to field Shivsharan Maharjan, a professor by profession, for the vacant mayor's position in Kirtipur Municipality. It has picked Nimleki Sherpa for the vice-chairperson position in Gaurishankar Rural Municipality of Dolakha. The third largest party has also finalised its candidates for the ward chairpersons in most of the local units where the by-polls are going to take place.

The ruling CPN-UML has picked the contenders for by-elections in the local units from Kathmandu but is yet to decide for other parts.

Surendra Manandhar, a UML central committee member, is the party’s mayoral candidate in Kirtipur. Laxmi Ratna Tuladhar will contest for chairperson of ward 16 of the Kathmandu Metropolis from the UML.

Rajendra Gautam, publicity department chief of the second largest party, said all the party’s candidates will be finalised within a couple of days.

The Nepali Congress, on the other hand, has already received lists of the probable candidates from the respective local units but is yet to finalise the names. The Rastriya Swatantra Party, which came into existence after the 2022’s local elections, is also preparing to contest the by-polls this time.

All the parties, including those who had contested earlier polls forming pre-poll alliances, have announced they’d contest the upcoming elections independently.