The people of Tingla Village in Necha Salyan Rural Municipality, Solukhumbu, have announced to boycott the upcoming federal and provincial elections as a protest against local restructuring. Earlier, the villagers had boycotted the local level. 

The villagers have refused to accept the decision of the Local Level Restructuring Commission to incorporate the village, formerly Tingla VDC, in Necha Salyan Rural Municipality, saying the administrative centre is not situated at a convenient location for them. 

 They want Tingla to be a part of Dudhkunda Municipality instead.

“We will participate in the elections only if the concerned authorities address our demand,” said Nara Bahadur Katawal, a local CPN-UML leader. 

In solidarity with the villagers, the local political parties had not fielded candidates for the June 28 local elections. The position of the villagers and the parties still remains unchanged. 

“The government has not created the right condition for us to take part in the coming elections,’ Katawal said.

Man Bahadur Karki, a local man, said they have long been demanding the government to realign their constituency for a practical reason.

“We, Tingla residents, are disadvantaged under the current arrangement. We have to walk a whole day to reach the administrative centre of Necha Salyan Rural Municipality. The solution to this problem is integrating Tingla with Dudhkunda Municipality,” he said.  

There are 995 families in Tingla with 2,476 people eligible to vote.