Voting was canceled & ballot papers were burned after mayor voted in name of others

KATHMANDU: MARCH. 6 – Voting was cancelled after Rajesh Ray Yadav, Mayor of Bara’s Kalaiya Sub-Metropolitan District, voted in the name of others. The controversy erupted after Yadav, who was also the mayoral and presidential candidate in the Nepali Congress district convention that started on Saturday, started casting votes for others. Following the dispute, the election was called off.

The controversy arose after Rajesh Ray Yadav, a candidate for the post, cast his vote in the name of others, according to Nepali Congress Municipal Secretary Mukesh Yadav. According to Yadav, the polling station was closed after voters began casting ballots in the open due to the negligence of the election officer.

According to election officer Raj Kumar Upreti, there are 227 candidates, including Shambhu Bahadur Budhathoki and Rajesh Ray Yadav from the Nepali Congress President’s panel and Ramananda Yadav from Shekhar Koirala’s panel. He stated that the election was called off due to the tense situation. There are a total of 2421 voters in the Bara district. In the presence of candidates and police, approximately 1,500 votes were cast.