Ward Chairman running for 11th re-election campaign

An 82-year-old man has enrolled and was unanimously elected as the candidate for this upcoming local level elections. Narasimha Byanjankar, who became an independent candidate in Ward No. 10 of Lalitpur, had been continuously elected as the ward chairman of the ward for the last 50 years. This is the 11th time he has become a candidate for the post of Ward Chairman.

His political career, which began from the time of the Panchayat system where parties were banned in the country, has been gradually continuing till the advent of the Republic to the restoration of the multi-party system in the country. He is not affiliated with any party. He has been working to bring together the members of other parties who have been elected as members in his ward.

Residing in Kupondole, Lalitpur early in the morning stays out of the house almost all day long. Listening to the grievances of the people and working for them has become his daily routine. In the past, he used to carry the seal of the office and finish the work wherever and whenever he met his constituents. He is popular not only in his ward but also in Lalitpur. Some people call him the grandfather/ father of the ward.

He had also expressed his commitment to work hard after being elected in the local elections five years ago. But after completing his term, he says that he has not been able to do any special work except recommendation in 5 years.

Citizens need the ward's recommendation for citizenship, passport, relocation and other activities. He had spent 5 years in such work. He informed that only Rs. 500,000 was spent in the budget of Rs. 20 million towards the end of the fiscal year. He complains that even though the engineer has an important role to play in the development work, he spends only two days a week in his ward.

He also mentions that the Corona outbreak has hampered work in the ward for two years now.

Succeeding in creating an independent image and the image of a popular public representative, he has spent half a century in service of the people.

He is of the view that the people's representative is not for politics but to serve the people. He believes that local government is not a place to do politics, it is just a door-to-door service for the people.

Many citizens of the same ward have been seeing Narasimha Byanjankar as the ward chairman since his birth. He has succeeded in pleasing multiple generations with his work.

He says that if he was involved in any party, he should have worked in the interest of the party and the party workers. Apart from his ward, he has taken the lead in protecting the heritage of Lalitpur, Kathmandu.