Chitwan court finds Maoist activists guilty of tearing ballot papersat local poll
The Chitwan District Court on Thursday convicted Drona Bahadur Siwakoti and Madhu Neupane for tearing ballot papers during the vote count of Ward 19. The Chitwan District Court on Thursday convicted Drona Bahadur Siwakoti and Madhu Neupane for tearing ballot papers during the vote count of Ward 19. Photo courtesy: Rajendra Acharya
Two activists of the then CPN (Maoist Centre) have been convicted of tearing ballot papers during a local election of Bharatpur Metropolis in 2017.
The Chitwan District Court on Thursday convicted Drona Bahadur Siwakoti and Madhu Neupane for tearing ballot papers during the vote count of Ward 19.
A single bench of Judge Murari Babu Shrestha passed the ruling against Siwakoti and Neupane, court Registrar Rudramani Giri said.
However, the court has yet to hand down the punishment against the duo. “Both of them have been found guilty. The court will hand donw punishment in the next hearing scheduled for June 20,” said Giri.
The Office of District Attorney filed the case against Siwakoti and Neupane demanding two years’ imprisonment and Rs100,000 fine.
The CPN (Maoist Centre) activists tore as many as 90 ballot papers in May, 2017. The incident happened while the counting of ballot papers of Ward 19 was under way. Then CPN-UML’s Devi Prasad Gyawali was leading Maoist Centre’s Renu Dahal, daughter of party chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal, at that time. Both were vying for Bharatpur’s mayoral post. Dahal later won the re-election.
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