Due to the Maoist armed insurgency, peace and security were becoming precarious, especially in the districts of the western region of the country. The government led by Lokendra Bahadur Chand had announced that local body elections would be held in two phases on Jestha 4 and 13, 2054. New positions of people's representatives were also created in the elections at the local level.

An ordinance was issued to provide for the election of 5 people from each ward of the local body, including the chairman/vice-chairman and mayor/deputy mayor. One woman and a Dalit member were mandatory. This was the first time that women and Dalits were made mandatory. There were 47 candidates in each VDC, including the chairman/vice-chairman.

The number of people's representatives was also determined based on the number of wards in the municipality. This was the second election after the multi-party system. In the local elections held in 2049, there was a provision for only the chairman to be elected from the ward. Gender and caste were not made mandatory. At that time, VDCs were called local bodies. The government had announced the first phase of local elections in the Western, Midwestern and Farwestern development regions on Jestha 4 with the aim of ensuring security. Elections were scheduled in 1,821 village development committees and 24 municipalities in the three development regions in the first phase. However, due to the impact of violent activities carried out by the Maoists in Rukum, Rolpa, Jajarkot, Salyan and other districts of the Western Development Region, it was not possible to register candidates. As the date for the first phase of candidacy registration approached, the Maoists threatened, beat, detonated bombs in houses, kidnapped and killed opposition party candidates. This made it increasingly unlikely that the local elections would be held peacefully. The date for the first phase of candidacy registration was set for Baisakh 22, 2054. However, candidates were not registered in some local bodies of Maoist-affected districts. Those who were elected unopposed in some local levels of Rukum, Rolpa and Jajarkot also withdrew their candidacies.

Bal Bahadur Pun, who was the vice-presidential candidate of the Nepali Congress in Pokhara VDC of Rukum, was killed by Maoists with a khukuri. That is why some people withdrew their candidacies in a hurry, fearing that they would be killed. District Development Committee Chairman Haribhakta Oli, who had filed his candidacy for ward member from Vijayashwari VDC-1, the headquarters of Chaurjahari, Rukum, had withdrawn his candidacy. He withdrew his candidacy after the Maoists surrounded his house while Oli was out.

The Maoists had sent a letter to those who had registered their candidacies in Jajarkot, saying, "Since you have also filed your candidacy in the local elections that are misleading the reactionaries, please withdraw your candidacies at the time of the deadline, otherwise you will definitely face public action." The number of withdrawals of candidacies increased after letters began to arrive stating that action would be taken within 3 days if elected and within 20 days if defeated. Within three days of registering candidacies, 7 VDCs in Jajarkot were left without candidates.

Elections postponed in 41 VDCs

After candidates were killed and nominations were withdrawn in various places, the Election Commission postponed elections in 41 VDCs in four districts of Rukum, Rolpa, Jajarkot and Salyan in the Mid-Western Development Region. The election was postponed after the Maoists launched a campaign to return empty ballot boxes and no candidacies were registered and those who had registered started withdrawing.

The then Secretary of the Election Commission, Hiranyalal Regmi, had informed that preparations were being made to cancel the election programs in Dolpa, Humla, Lumjung, Bajura, Gulmi, Parbat and Arghakhanchi. In some districts, unopposed people's representatives had gone to the police shelter saying that they would resign.

According to Rukum Chief District Officer Ganesh Bahadur Kunwar, candidates from Chunbang, Chhiwang, Buddhimakanda, Malakchha, and Jitpang VDCs had withdrawn their nominations. He had informed that candidacies could not be registered in 18 VDCs of the district. The then Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Rukum Pushkar Regmi said that in Kotjhari VDC, Gore Thapa, the elected chairman from the RPP, and Nar Bahadur Malla, the unopposed vice-chairman from the UML, had left the village due to fear of Maoists. They had been staying at the Area Police Office in Chaurjahari as their houses were surrounded by Maoists.

126 people from UML withdrew their candidacies.

126 people from the UML elected people's representatives from various VDCs of Jajarkot had withdrawn their candidacies. Hundreds of people's representatives elected unopposed had withdrawn their candidacies within four days of registering their nominations. The Maoists had locked the UML candidate in Jajarkot in a house during the day and threatened to kill him if he did not withdraw his candidacy.

Bhairav ​​Sundar Shrestha, who was the deputy chairman of the District Development Committee on behalf of the UML, had also withdrawn his candidacy. UML cadres were angry when he withdrew his nomination and locked his own party office. He was forced to resign even though he was unopposed. Rolpa Chief District Officer Narendra Raj Sharma had informed that 10 people who were kidnapped by the Maoists during the election were released.

Jajarkot JBS President Govinda Bahadur Shah had complained that the police administration did not listen to them. He said that the government did not listen to them and relied only on the police.

72 VDCs without candidates in 6 days

Within 6 days of filing nominations for the first phase of the election, 72 VDCs were partially and completely without candidates due to Maoist intimidation. 6 in Rolpa, 11 in Jajarkot, 2 in Dolpa, 32 in Rukum, 12 in Salyan, 1/1 in Gorkha, Baglung and Lamjung, and 2/2 in Humla, Jumla and Bajura. The Police Election Cell had informed that 42 villages were completely without candidates and 25 villages were partially without candidates.

'Peace and security are very good'

While the Maoists are increasingly killing, beating up candidates and forcing unopposed candidates to withdraw their applications, the government had claimed that peace and security were very good. Home Secretary Rewatiraman Pokharel had claimed that the security arrangements were very good. 'We have created a good environment for peace and security.' There is no room for doubt in that,' he had said. Those who came to file their candidacies did not come for security reasons, they should know why they did not come,' Pokhel had said, 'We cannot give police to every person's door.'

Meanwhile, UML Local Body Publicity Department Chief Pradeep Nepal had informed that 3,559 candidates were elected unopposed from his party. Kantipur Daily had published a news report in the last week of Baisakh 2054 BS focusing on the local elections held exactly 30 years ago due to the fear of gunfire when the Maoist conflict was escalating, covering the activities of 6 consecutive days since the registration of candidacies.

The news reported incidents such as the killing of candidates due to the Maoist armed rebellion, kidnapping, being forced to resign despite being elected unopposed, and bombings at candidates' houses, which had plunged the elections of some local bodies in the western regions of the country into a kind of panic.

 Based on news sources received through correspondents in various districts, Kantipur had published news under the headlines ‘Nominations not filed in Maoist-affected districts’, ‘Killing of Congress candidate: Nomination papers withdrawn due to Maoist threats’, ‘Elections postponed in 41 Maoist-affected VDCs’, ‘72 VDCs without candidates’. 

The government was saying that the peace and security situation was very good . However, on the day of candidacy registration, it was not possible to go to the polling station . Even when the candidate was killed, the government did not accept that he did not come to file his candidacy due to peace and security . On the contrary, it had responded that it could not provide police to every person’s door-to-door . Kantipur had also published a satirical cartoon to reflect the reality of the real state of peace and security .