Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) leader Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav began making political visits after his vice-presidential candidacy was confirmed.
Yadav, who is the official candidate of the coalition for the elections to be held on Friday, met with the heads of different political parties on Monday.
There was confusion over the status of her candidacy after the Election Commission on Friday ordered to register only non-Khas-Arya women’s candidacies, noting that Khas-Arya’s man, Ram Chandra Paudel, has already been elected president.
Yadav, however, submitted the nomination on Saturday along with JSP’s Pramila Yadav as a guarantee if the former’s candidacy was later revoked. But the Election Commission has since clarified that Yadav’s candidacy need not be cancelled, as the candidate need not be a woman under the constitution.
Pramila Yadav has withdrawn her candidacy after the latest clarification from the Election Commission in support of Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav despite her name still being listed as a candidate by the Election Commission.
Yadav’s main competitor is likely to be CPN-UML candidate Ashta Laxmi Shakya, although the Janamat Party, which is also part of the ruling coalition, has fielded its own candidate in Mamta Jha.
Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav met on Monday with CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman and Prime Minister (PM) Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress (NC) Chairman Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal and RPP Chairman Rajendra Lingden and sought his support in the vice-presidential election.
Dahal, Deuba and Nepal are part of the ruling coalition that has already decided to support the JSP’s vice-presidential candidate. But RPP is not part of the coalition and did not participate in the presidential elections held on Thursday.
Lingden wished Yadav a victory, but noted that the party has yet to decide whether to participate in or boycott the voting process.
