The CPN-UML on Sunday finalised its candidates for the April 27 by-elections.

A secretariat meeting of the party held at its headquarters in Chyasal picked candidates for Ilam-2 and Bajhang (A), according to the party’s Deputy General Secretary Pradeep Gyawali.

The party has decided to field Suhang Nembang as its candidate for the House of Representatives seat to be elected from Ilam-2.

A lawyer by profession, Suhang, son of late Subas Nembang, has been active in party politics after the demise of his father. Of late, Suhang was actively taking part in the party activities including the UML’s mid-hill march held in December.

The Ilam-2 House of Representatives seat is vacant after the demise of the former Speaker and the Constituent Assembly chairman Subas Nembang. He died of a heart attack on September 13. The CPN-UML leader had continuously won the constituency since the 1999 general elections.

In the November 2022 poll, Nembang defeated his closest contender Dambar Bahadur Khadka of the Nepali Congress by a margin of 1,014 votes. While he garnered 30,020 votes, Khadka, who was a common candidate of the Congress-led alliance, managed to get 29,906.

The meeting also finalised Daman Bahadur Bhandari as the party’s official candidate in Bajhang (A) for Sudurpaschim Provincial Assembly.

The seat remains vacant after Prithvi Bahadur Singh, a provincial assembly member, was killed in a road accident in June last year.