ITAHARI: Nepali Congress fared poorly in Sunsari district in the November 20 elections.
NC, which had won three out of four seats while contesting against the alliance of left parties in 2017, was victorious in only one seat despite forming an alliance of five parties.
In 2017, candidates of NC were victorious in Sunsari-2, 3 and 4 constituencies, while UML took Sunsari-1.
Ashok Rai of Janata Samajbadi Party has been elected to the House of Representatives from Sunsari-1. He defeated Muksahang Menyangbo of CPN (Maoist Center) who was the common candidate of the five-party ruling coalition. Rai, who was defeated by Jaya Kumar Rai of UML in 2017, enjoyed the support of UML in the November 20 polls.
In Sunsari-2, Bhim Acharya of CPN-UML defeated Sitaram Mehta of NC. Mehta was victorious in Sunsari-2 in 2017 by defeating Himal Subedi – the common candidate of the left parties. However, he faced defeat in the November 20 polls despite having the support of four other parties of the ruling coalition.
Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar of NC had been winning all elections since 1990. He, however, lost to Bhagwati Chaudhary of CPN-UML in Sunsari-3. Chaudhary managed to defeat Gachhadar in the third attempt. She lost to Gachhadar by slim margins in 2013 and 2017.
However, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki of NC has been reelected to the House of Representatives from Sunsari-4. He defeated Jagadish Prasad Kusiyat of UML in one of the tightly-contested affairs of the November 20 polls.
Nepali Congress, which won three out of four seats in Sunsari in 2017, could only win one seat this time despite having the support of four parties of the ruling coalition.
Sunsari-4 is the only seat that NC won in Sunsari. The party, which won three seats in 2017, could only win one seat this time despite having the support of four parties of the ruling coalition.
According to NC cadres, repetition of candidates, discrimination in the distribution of tickets, and factionalism emanating from the 14th general convention are some of the reasons behind the party’s poor performance in Sunsari.
“The discrimination in the distribution of tickets in the local body polls had left party leaders and cadres disappointed. They expressed their dissatisfaction through the ballots,” Birendra Sah, secretary of the party’s Sunsari district committee, said. “The central-level leaders visited the district but didn’t work in coordination with district-level leaders. This lack of coordination is reflected in the election results.”
He also said the decision of JSP to leave the coalition to join hands with UML is the other reason behind the party’s defeat.
Sah said the party will review the election from the ward level once the final results are published. “If we get proof of any leader or cadre working against the party’s official candidate, we will take needful action as per the party statute,” he added.
Advocate Ramesh Pokharel, a district-level NC leader, said cadres were disappointed by the repetition of candidates. “We also failed to put forth our vision and agendas effectively because of the coalition,” he added.
Pokharel also said the decision to leave constituencies in and around Itahari to other coalition partners backfired for NC. “Also, we learned a valuable lesson that party’s convention should be organized only after the election,” he added.
He said even federal lawmakers were working against the interest of the party to elect their near and dear ones in the ward-level convention. “Lawmakers asked party cadres to vote for a certain candidate close to them in the general convention. This dissatisfaction has been reflected in the election results,” he said, adding that failure to mobilize the party’s sister organizations effectively was the other reason behind the party’s poor performance.
