UML candidate Niru Devi Pal and her rival from the Congress, Ramesh Lekhak, are expected to have a neck-to-neck competition.

The old embankment built in 1994 has lost its original height to siltation in the Mahakali river and provides little protection to the settlements.

Besides swamp deer, the park is also home to tigers, blue bulls (Boselaphus tragocamelus) and peacocks, among others.

Landslides in Achham on Friday killed 22 people. In Kanchanpur and Kailali, floodwaters inundated several settlements and displaced hundreds.

The national park has built a special sanctuary on 59.8 hectares of the park land in Hirapur Phanta, which is home to 203 blackbucks.

Forest officials say locals peel the bark off and harm the roots to kill the trees and are also involved in timber smuggling.

While humans live in constant fear of wild animal attacks, the latter find their natural habitats disturbed by human activities.

Even if some local units have spent millions, a sustainable solution to the problem remains elusive.

The Stage III of the project, which would irrigate around 33,520 hectares of land in farwestern Nepal, has been completed after 26 years.

Division Forest Office says it has not been informed about the construction while local unit and community forest officials say all required processes for the park’s construction have been fulfilled.

The national park, with support of other organisations working in the conservation sector, is set to start the deer count from Sunday to mark the start of the national wildlife week.

With rise in human-animal conflict, villagers are setting traps to catch wild animals.

Say earning livelihoods and feeding their families are more important to them.

Land mafia and timber smugglers claiming stakes on forest resources has led to the loss of forest area in Kanchanpur and Kailali districts.

Greater scaup, a rare bird found in Nepal, has joined the latest list of rare aquatic birds in the park. Indian spot-billed duck, locally called Nadon Hansa, has also been spotted.