Nepal polls Shah Oli vying for top post file nomination from same constituency

Kathmandu, Jan 20 (PTI) Former Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah and deposed prime minister K P Sharma Oli on Tuesday registered their candidacy from eastern Nepal's Jhapa-5 constituency for the March 5 general elections.
     Both Shah, 35, and Oli, 74, have been projected as prime ministerial candidates by their respective parties.
     Shah, popularly known as "Balen", reached the election office with hundreds of supporters and filed nomination from Jhapa-5 in the Koshi province.
     The rapper-turned-politician is contesting the election from the Rastriya Swotantra Party, which projected him as its prime ministerial candidate.
     Shah was the favourite choice of the Gen Z youths, who asked him to head the caretaker government after Oli resigned from the post on September 9, following violent protests by the youth-led group against his government over corruption and a ban on social media.
     Shah had declined to lead the interim government, saying he would rather head the government by contesting the parliamentary election for a full term.
     Oli, who fled on an army helicopter on the second day of the Gen Z protests, also filed nomination papers from Jhapa-5 on Tuesday.
     He has been elected from Jhapa district to Parliament for six terms in the past three decades, except for the first Constituent Assembly election in 2008.
     The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) has officially declared Oli, its chair, as its prime ministerial candidate.
     Separately, Gagan Thapa, 49, the newly elected president of Nepali Congress -- the Himalayan nation's largest democratic party -- and the prime ministerial candidate from his party, filed nomination from the Sarlahi-4 constituency of the Madhesh province.
     Thapa had revolted against the establishment faction of the party led by former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and won the election for party president by holding a Special General Convention last week despite Deuba's disapproval.
     Deuba, who has already served as prime minister five times, is not in the race.
     Neither is senior Nepali Communist Party leader Jhala Nath Khanal.
     However, four former prime ministers, including Oli, will contest the House of Representatives elections on March 5.
     Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" has filed nomination from Rukum East constituency in the Lumbini province, while Madhav Kumar Nepal has filed nomination from Rautahat-1 in Madhesh province.
     Both represent the newly formed Nepali Communist Party, Prachanda being the coordinator and Nepal deputy coordinator of the party.
     Another former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai has filed nomination from Gorkha-2 constituency in Gandaki province, representing the Pragatisheel Lokatantrik Party.
     Other prominent candidates who filed their nominations include Kulman Ghising, president of Ujyalo Nepal Party, and Harka Sampang, president of Shrama Sanskriti Party.
     In the upcoming general election, a total of 189,03,689 voters, including 92,40,131 women, are eligible to cast their votes.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)