A field survey report by a team of human rights activists has blamed police for the death of a ward chairman candidate in Malkot of Kalikot.

Dhanrup Batala, 45, a Rastriya Prajatantra Party candidate for the post of ward chairman in Malkot was seriously injured in police firing on May 14 during the first phase of local elections. Batala later succumbed to bullet injuries.

Batala died due to failure on the part of security personnel to deal with the situation and exercise restraint, says the report prepared by a team comprising advocate Ekraj Bhandari, associate professor and advocate Gopal Siwakoti, Insec representative Kali Bahadur Malla, advocate Leeladhar Marasini and journalist Diya Chand. The team had reached the incident site following the incident.