ITAHARI: Like in Kathmandu Valley where two senior Maoist leaders were defeated by young women, a woman leader has managed to put an end to political journey of Nepali Congress veteran Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar in Sunsari.
Maoist leaders Onsari Gharti and Pampha Bhusal, who have repeatedly enjoyed state power, were defeated by Sobita Gautam and Dr Toshima Karki in Kathmandu-2 and Lalitpur-3 constituencies, respectively. In Sunsari-3, CPN-UML’s Bhagwati Chaudhary put the brakes on the parliamentary journey of Gachchhadar, who had won all previous elections, in her third attempt.
Bhagwati lost to Gachhadar in the 2013 Constituent Assembly (CA) election and 2017 parliamentary elections by slim margins. The determined leader, who faced defeat against Gachhadar in 2017 despite being the common candidate of left parties, trumped Gachhadar, who had the support of four other parties of the ruling coalition, in the third attempt.
Bhagwati is a central committee member of CPN-UML. She joined the party in 1991. She has been empowering women and marginalized people in Sunsari through Forward Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha. She started the microcredit institution to empower local women. Women could get membership in the institution by making deposits of as low as Rs 5 per day. The scheme helped empowered even illiterate women. It is said that her work through the microcredit organization has been helping Bhagwati to get people’s support.
Ekraj Dahal, a member of Sunsari district committee of UML, said it is a big victory for the party in Sunsari-3. “Local people didn’t defeat NC, they made Bhagwati victorious,” he added.
He said Gachhadar had rigged votes in 2013 and 2017. “We were made to suffer in the past two elections by Gachhadar’s trickeries,” Dhakal said, adding: “It didn’t work this time as people know he has been charge-sheeted in a corruption case.” He went on to say the people of Sunsari-3 have voted for change.
Responding to a query on why UML was repeating Bhagwati in Sunsari-3, Dhakal said she is popular among voters and has implemented many programs in the constituency. “She is a woman, that too from a marginalized group. It is only natural as the opposition parties have been fielding the same candidates for the past three decades,” he added.
He, however, added that the party might look for alternatives if she failed to work as per the people’s expectations.
Bhagwati’s agendas
Bhagwati has said that she would work for the commercialization of agriculture and make the sector export-oriented. Bhagwati, who has been helping the local people in entrepreneurship, has unveiled plans to start a technical education school in the constituency and bring youth employment programs.
Likewise, Bhagwati, who is focusing on making women self-reliant and self-employed, has also said that she would work to improve the quality of community schools. Building a ring road to connect potential tourist attractions in the constituency is another program in her election agenda.
