Kathmandu, Jan. 30 -- UML General Secretary Shankar Pokharel has dismissed the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) as a serious contender in Kathmandu and said the upcoming elections will be a direct contest between the two largest parties, the UML and the Nepali Congress.

Speaking during an interaction with journalists on Friday, Pokhrel stated that the Congress, as the country's oldest party, is the UML's main competitor.

In total, Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur have 15 electoral constituencies. Three parties-Congress, UML and RSP-are in a tight race followed by the Nepali Communist Party (an amalgam of several leftist groups and parties including the CPN (Maoist Centre), and Ujyalo Nepal.

Pokharel admitted that RSP's influence among v...