Four former prime ministers in electoral race again

KATHMANDU: Four former prime ministers have entered the fray for the House of Representatives election scheduled for March 5.

Former Prime Ministers KP Sharma Oli, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Dr Baburam Bhattarai, and Madhav Kumar Nepal filed their nominations in their respective constituencies on Tuesday.

CPN-UML Chairperson KP Sharma Oli has filed his nomination from the Jhapa-5 constituency. Oli has been challenged by Balen Shah from the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP). Shah also happens to be the party’s prime ministerial candidate. Other candidates in the constituency include Keshav Raj Pandey from the Nepali Congress (NC) and Ranjit Tamang from the Nepali Communist Party (NCP).

Former Prime Minister and NCP Coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal is contesting from the Rukum East constituency. Dahal, who was elected from Gorkha-2 constituency in 2022, has moved to Rukum East for the 2026 election. He is facing competition from Sandip Pun from the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), Kusum Devi Rana Magar from the NC, and Leelamani Gautam from the CPN-UML.

Joint Coordinator of the NCP, Madhav Kumar Nepal, has registered his candidacy from Rautahat-1. His main challengers include Ajay Kumar Gupta from UML, Yogendra Raya Yadav from the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) Nepal, and Anil Kumar Jha from the NC.

Similarly, Dr Baburam Bhattarai is contesting the election from the Gorkha-2 constituency from the PDP. Bhattarai, who left his constituency for NCP Chairperson Dahal, however, has chosen to contest in the 2026 elections. His main contenders are Lekhnath Neupane from the NCP, Kabindra Burlakoti from the RSP, Prakash Chandra Dawadi from the Nepali Congress, and Milan Gurung from the CPN-UML.

Other former Prime Ministers Sher Bahadur Deuba and Jhalanath Khanal are not contesting the election this time.