Lamichhane emerges a tough contender for UML, NC

Bharatpur, Nov. 8

Candidacy of Rabi Lamichhane, leader of Rastriya Swatantra Party, in the election for the member of the House of Representatives (HoR) has created a wide division among the demographics in election Constituency 2 of Chitwan district, some 140 km south-west of Kathmandu.

A number of youths, especially those who started voting after the implementation of federalism in the country seem to be frustrated with the large political parties that had been in power for the past three decades and want a fresh candidate as their representative. But the older generations have exhibited their loyalty to parties like CPN-UML, Nepali Congress (NC) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party.

A representative incident happened at Geneshsthan at Anptari of Bharatpur-11 where the mothers wanted to vote for the large political parties including the UML and NC while their children had different choice – young candidates either 'independent' or from the Swatantra Party.

Binu Raut, a local of Ganeshsthan, said that she would vote for the UML, the party which was her favourite for the past many years, but her son Jitendra Raut contradicted with his mother and said he and his friends don't have much hopes from those political parties and their relatively 'aged' candidates. Jitendra and his friend Santosh Kshetri have a feeling that the political parties that ruled the country so far had infected the democratic system, interfered unnecessarily in every sector and involved in corruption instead of curbing and controlling it.

"You can't get your job done at the District Administration Office or Land Revenue Office without bribing some officials. Likewise, we have no one that cares about the increasing unemployment," the young voters said.

Some seek local candidate

However, some of the voters that The Rising Nepal and Gorkhapatra dailies talked to, maintained that they wanted a local candidate with whom they could be in constant contact in order to discuss their development and community needs.

The area has been catapulted to the national limelight with the candidacy of former mediaperson, Lamichhane, incumbent minister of state, Umesh Shrestha (NC), and immediate Chairperson of the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives (HoR), Krishna Bhakta Pokhrel (UML). There are 16 candidates, including six independents, contesting election from this constituency. Rastriya Prajatantra Party's Rabin Adhikari is also considered a popular candidate.

However, the constituency is in talks because of Lamichhane who recently not only registered a party but also announced the party candidacy from 131 constituencies out of 165. The party has been the third largest – following CPN (UML) and RPP– in terms of candidacy announced. UML and RPP had registered their candidacies in 141 and 140 constituencies. The NC has its candidates in 91 constituencies.

While many locals said that Lamichhane had come to contest election from here after an unprecedented gathering of his supporters while he was in detention for his alleged connection with the suicide of TV journalist Shalikram Pudasaini who had committed suicide at a hotel in Narayanghat. The candidate himself recalls this support time and again at his election campaign and household visit programmes.

Likewise, the metropolis was in the spotlight for all wrong reasons of allegedly rigged elections during the first local elections 2017 when the cadres of CPN (Maoist Centre) chewed the ballot papers while counting them with the aim of making Renu Dahal, daughter of MC Chairman, Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, the mayor of the city.

As this newspaper found in Chitwan's election Constituency 1 on Sunday that the voters have been confused that the Swatantra Party's candidates are independent candidates, some voters in Bharatpur Metropolis, ward 11 and 29 have been thinking the same. They are critical of UML and NC and MC but praise Mayor of Kathmandu, Balendra Shah, and Mayor of Dharan, Harka Rai Sampang, and say, “We want the candidates like them who can change the things independently, overnight.”

Apprehension of UML, NC

However, there is a sort of apprehension among the cadres and voters of the UML and NC-led coalition in terms of younger voters and many local leaders said that the matter has gone out of party’s control.

Bashu Dev Adhikari, a businessman from Narayanghat, said that the traditional voters’ groups are not intact yet there is less attraction to the independent candidates. This indicates a possibility of swing votes.

Meanwhile, Dhan Bahadur Shrestha, a resident of Kalika Municipality in the east of Bharatpur, was one of the few people who complained about the poor situation of development. He was critical of the winning candidates who never came back to know the public problems. Padampur area in Kalika has only single-phase electricity supply system which has been a challenge for long to the businesses there. 

But most of the leaders haven't shown concerns to the need or demands of the people. "A couple of candidates have come to visit us but just handed us their pamphlets and moved ahead," said Mira Shrestha of Kabilas and Dhan Bahadur Shrestha, of Jugedi, Ward 29 of Bharatpur.

Meanwhile, Swatantra Party is ahead of other parties and candidates in terms of election campaigning. It has been aggressively implementing the promotion and house visit programmes.

 

Realistic plan for landless squatters

Residents of the squatters area in Aanptari said that they would vote for the candidate that presents a plausible plan to distribute land-ownership certificates to them. Sunita Bishwakarma said that the area has problems like unemployment and misuse of drugs and wants a solution to them. Voters like her also complained that the candidates – both winning and losing in the last elections – never came back to them to discuss their problems and needs.

According to Chhabi Lal Devkota, district president of Nepal Basobas Basti Samrakchan Samaj – an organisation of landless squatters, there are 5,770 landless families in Bharatpur Metropolis and they would vote for those candidates that promise to provide them land-ownership document.  

Chitwan's Constituency 2 spans from the Narayani River bank in the west to the highest hill, Siraichuli in the east and includes religious area Devghat and Ichchhakamana Temple, and historic area Upardang Gadhi. In the local elections held in May 2022, the UML had won the chair and mayoral posts in Ichchhakamana Rural Municipality and Kalika Municipality while NC-led coalition had won in Bharatpur.

In the 28 wards in the constituency, the ruling coalition has won 17 while UML garnered victory in 11 wards. However, on the basis of votes received by the ward chairpersons, UML had obtained 35,543 votes and MC-led coalition obtained 35,394 votes.

 

Candidates for the HoR election in Constituency 2 of Chitwan

S.N.	Name of Candidate	Political Party
1.	Krishna Bhakta Pokhrel	CPN-UML
2.	Umesh Shrestha	Nepali Congress
3.	Rabin Adhikari	Rastriya Prajatantra Party
4.	Mustafa Ali	Janata Samajwadi Party, Nepal
5.	Gyanendra Praja	Nepal Workers and Peasants Party
6.	Tek Bahadur Tamang	Mangol National Organisation
7.	Amrit Tamang	Hamro Nepali Party
8.	Sunil Kumar Kshetri	Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal
9.	Prabha Tripathi	Janasamajwadi Party Nepal
10.	Rabi Lamichhane	Rastriya Swatantra Party
11.	Devika Kunwar	Independent
12.	Bhaskar Chandra Neupane	"
13.	Khem Raj Bhattarai	"
14.	Angur Panta	"
15.	Sudarshan Pradhan	"
16.	Sundar Dallakoti	"

Source: Election Commission Nepal

Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 9 November 2022. Joint reporting with Basanta Parajuli in Chitwan.