With politics a preference in provinces, pandemic has become a non-issue

Chief ministers are so busy saving their chairs that they have failed to make the fight against the coronavirus, which is spreading fast in rural Nepal, their priority.

When Nepal voted in 2017 to elect three tiers of government as guaranteed by the constitution adopted in 2015, the goal was to usher in political stability and take the country on the path of democratisation. Four years on, everything seems to be unravelling.