DHANGADHI: Four leaders from Sudurpashchim Province, who first contested the election in 1991, are in the election race even after three decades.
Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN-UML Secretary and former minister Lekhraj Bhatta, former minister Ram Janam Chaudhary, and Minister for Industry and Supplies Dilendra Prasad Badu have been contesting elections since 1991.
All these leaders are contesting the election for the House of Representatives under first past the post voting. Of them, Deuba has won all the elections from the Dadeldhura constituency that he contested after 1991. Badu, Chaudhary and Bhatta have not enjoyed victory regularly like Deuba.
Deuba, Badu and Chaudhary won the 1991 elections, however, Bhatta had faced defeat.
If Deuba wins the November 20 election, he will be elected to the House of Representatives for a record seventh time. Karna Malla, who was Deuba’s confidant for a long time, is trying to stop Deuba. Malla is the candidate of Nepali Congress (BP). Left parties have not fielded their candidates in Dadeldhura.
Sher Bahadur Deuba
Dadeldhura
Deuba was elected to the House of Representatives from Dadeldhura in 1991, 1994 and 1999 and 2017. He was elected from both Daldehdura and Kanchanpur in 2008 and 2013.
He defeated Khagaraj Bhatta, the common candidate of the left parties, by over 7,000 votes in 2017. Deuba received 28,446 votes, while Bhatta got 21,498 votes.
Deuba will have the support of CPN (Maoist Center) and CPN (Unified Socialist).
Looking at the votes received by the ward chairpersons in the district in the local body election held in March, NC is ahead receiving a total of 21,735 votes. Maoist Center was in the second position with 12,878 votes. UML is in the third position with 10,449 votes. Unified Socialist, which split from UML, received 5,041 votes.
Interestingly, Naresh Bhandari of Nepali Congress (BP) won the election in Deuba’s home ward – Ganyapdhura-1.
Dilendra Prasad Badu
Darchula
Badu has been contesting the election from Darchula since 1991. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1999. Badu was elected under the proportionate representation (PR) system in 2017. This time he is contesting the election under the FPTP voting.
Ganesh Singh Thagunna of UML won from Darchula in 2017. He received 28,998 votes. Thagunna’s close contender was NC’s Bikram Singh Dhami who got 22,233 votes.
Though various candidates are in the electoral race in the country, the main competition will be between Badu and Thagunna.
Looking at the results of the local body election held in March, UML looks stronger in this constituency. UML won five out of nine local units in the district. Maoist Center won the remaining four local units. Nepali Congress failed to win any local unit in the district.
Similarly, UML won 34 out of 61 wards in different local units. NC and Maoist, which had formed an alliance, won 17 and 10 wards, respectively.
Of the total votes cast in 61 wards, UML received 29,397 votes, while NC and Maoist Center won 21,554 and 7,881 votes, respectively.
Lekhraj Bhatta
Kailali-4
CPN-UML Secretary Lekhraj Bhatta is contesting the election from the Kailali-4 constituency. He had contested the 1991 elections from Kailali-1 constituency as the candidate of the United People’s Front. He was defeated by Ganga Bahadur Kunwar of Nepali Congress. He didn’t contest in 1994 and 1999 elections as he was involved in the Maoist’s people’s war.
He won the 2008 Constituent Assembly Election from Kailali-5 constituency (now Kailali-4), but lost to Dirgharaj Bhat of the Nepali Congress in the 2013 election.
Bhatta, who was the common candidate of the left parties, however, was victorious in the 2017 elections, defeating Sunil Bhandari of Nepali Congress.
The ruling coalition has fielded Bir Bahadur Balayar of Nepali Congress as its candidate in the Kailali-4 constituency. Though many candidates are in the fray, the main contest will be between Bhatta and Balayar.
The Kailali-4 constituency includes Godavari and Gauri Ganga municipalities, Chure Rural Municipality, and five wards of Mohanyal Rural Municipality.
The ruling coalition looks stronger in this constituency. Candidates of the chiefs of local units of the ruling coalition received a combined 32,577 votes in the local body election held in March. Candidates of UML received only 21,161 votes.
Ram Janam Chaudhary
Kailali-1
Ram Jana Chaudhary was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in the 1991 elections. He has been elected to the parliament five times, while he has repeatedly held ministerial portfolios.
Chaudhary, who is eyeing his sixth term in the parliament, was defeated in the 2017 elections in Kailali-3 constituency by Maoist’s Gauri Shankar Chaudhary who was the common candidate of the left parties. This time he is contesting from Kailali-1.
He was undefeated in his constituency from 1991 to 2013. Chaudhary was victorious in 1991, 1994 and 1999 elections from Kailali-2 constituency. He was elected to the 2008 Constituency Assembly under the PR system after joining a new party formed by NC leader Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar. Chaudhary won the 2013 Constituent Assembly election from Kailali-3 as the candidate of the Madhesi People’s Right Forum.
He lost the 2017 election to UML’s Gauri Shankar Chaudhary by around 4,300 votes.
The Kailali-1 constituency has 23 wards of Tikapur and Bhajani municipalities and Joshipuar and Janaki rural municipalities. Of the 23 wards, candidates of Nagarik Unmukti Party won 11 wards. Maoist won five wards, NC amd UML won three each and Janata Samajbadi Party was victorious in one ward.
Looking at the votes received by ward chairpersons in the local body election held in March, the ruling coalition is strong in the constituency. Ward chairpersons of the ruling coalition received a combined 20,840 votes which includes 11,678 received by NC, 6,930 received by Maoists and 2,232 of Unified Socialist. Nagarik Unmukti Party alone received 17,193 votes, while UML ward chairperson candidates got 10,322 votes.
Ward chairperson candidates of Janata Samajbadi Party and Rastriya Prajatantra Party received 2,302 and 3,561 votes.
Nagarik Unmukti Party’s Ranjita Shrestha and UML’s Tapendra Rawal will be Chaudhary’s main competitors in Kailali-1.
