As local polls arrive in Nepal, party flags fly off shelves from shops

Business has become brisker in the narrow alley-like shop of Naresh Kumar Chaudhary in Kathmandu as the periodic five-year local election arrives at the doorsteps.

Naresh Chaudhary is busy making party flags that are going off the shelves and would be in high demand in the coming weeks.

"There's still time for the election, flags are flying off the shelves for the political programs which are being held these days which has made my schedules tight. I get into work from 6-7 am and work till 7 pm on daily basis. Soon after the filing of the candidacy, we won't get time to reply to anyone's questions and will work round the clock. Currently, there are four of us who are working. From mid of next month, additional forces of 6 people would be added to meet the demands," Chaudhary told ANI.

Having been in the business of flag making, screen printing and designing for nearly two decades, Chaudhary in the earlier election of 2017 claims to have made about 3.5 million Nepali rupees by selling flags, t-shirts and other promotional items.

Cadres from various political parties have been thronging shops like that of Chaudhary making their business brisker than before and increasing the political temperature ahead of the election.

"We usually use the party flags in each and every program. Flags which earlier were installed at various local party offices now have been rugged and with elections approaching a new flag with a party election symbol would further facilitate voters to vote for the party identifying the election symbol in the ballot paper. This also has been the main intent," Susan Sapkota, one of the party cadres who purchased a new flag ahead of the election told ANI.

Flags that are used during the political campaigning are supplied to other parts of the nation from Kathmandu where the party places an order at shops like that of Chaudhary and sends it later.

The local level elections, which will be held on May 13 this year, has forced parties to work to secure more seats as it would reflect the seats that would be secured later on in federal polls.

One of the biggest parties in the ruling alliance, the Nepali Congress under the presidentship of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is debating whether to go ahead with forging an alliance or compete alone.

The opposition CPN-UML however has been claiming to secure a comfortable majority and rule for the next half a decade and won't repeat the mistake which was made in the earlier election.

Other parties such as Maoist Center, CPN-Unified Socialist and Madhesh-based parties also are working to forge alliances or increase the stronghold as competition flares on.

The local election which is being held in a gap of five years has an eligible population of 17,733,723 to exercise their franchise. As per the final list of voters published by the Nepal Election Commission on 27 March, 8,992,010 men, 8,741,530 women and 183 others have qualified to vote.

The EC has made the new provision making voters eligible if they turn 18 years on May 12 this year. Also, 10,756 voting stations and 21,955 voting centres have been set for the local level polls.

Watching out for the election schedule, Chaudhary is now bracing himself up for the fray which would bring a lot of orders for him and turnover in the business increasing the sales of printed fabrics in the days to come.

"Demand already has started pouring in for us. I have been trying to make some extra flags so that I can fulfil orders on time but am not able to do so. Orders for a maximum of 2000 pieces are being fulfilled as of now which does not let any of my prints to be there in the stocks."

( With inputs from ANI )