Kathmandu: The Nepalese Election Commission sent poll symbols to all registered candidates on Saturday, allowing them to begin campaigning for the local body elections on May 13.

Candidates who filed nomination papers from registered political parties on April 24 were given party symbols, while independents were given new symbols, according to Shaligram Sharma Paudel, the electoral body's spokesperson.

The Election Commission had scrutinized nomination papers and investigated objections lodged against them earlier this week before releasing the final candidate list on Friday. According to the electoral authority, 79 parties from around the country have filed nomination papers for the local body elections, with the main opposition CPN-UML (Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist) fielding candidates for 33, 503 positions.

Similarly, the Nepali Congress (NC) has candidates for 31,425 positions, while the CPN (Maoist Center) has candidates for 22,279 positions. Similarly, the CPN (Unified Socialists) has 11,330 candidates, while the Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) has 9,481. The Loktantik Samajwadi Party (LSP) has put out 4,761 candidates, while 12,220 independents are running. 

For the May 13 local level elections, 152,465 candidates filed nominations for 35,221 positions in 753 local body units. Many of the opposition candidates have withdrawn their candidacies.

In the upcoming local elections on May 13, there are a total of 12,789 independent candidates running for various positions. The Election Commission (EC) has stated that it will provide 40 different kinds of election symbols.

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