Madan Kumar Bhandari, the then General Secretary of UML, defeated the President of Nepali Congress and Prime Minister of the Interim Government, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai from Kathmandu Region No. 1 in the 2048 general elections. General Secretary Bhandari was discussed after defeating the chairman of the party and the Prime Minister of the interim government Bhattarai, who led Jan Andolan 2046.

On the one hand, Bhandari's speech was very logical and pleasant to the ears. Even after defeating Bhattarai, his popularity was on the rise. But General Secretary Bhandari and Head of Organization Department Jivraj Ashrit died in a jeep accident in Dasdhunga on 3rd May 2050. After Bhandari's death, it was announced that a by-election would be held on 25th January 2050 for members of the House of Representatives in Kathmandu-1.

Bhattarai, who was defeated by General Secretary Bhandari, contested against Bidyadevi Bhandari in the by-election. After the death of her husband Bhandari, Vidya was going to participate in the election contest. UML had decided to make him a candidate in that area . 

The leaders of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala's party in the Congress were putting direct/indirect pressure on Bhattarai as much as possible not to become a candidate. Also, they suggested not to contest in Kathmandu Constituency No. 1. Ganeshman Singh Khema, the highest leader of the party, said that Bhattarai must be a candidate anyway. Bhattarai's candidacy was decided after a long infighting within the party.

Congress leader Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and UML's Vidya Bhandari registered their nomination papers at the election officer's office at Bhrikutimand in Kathmandu on 16 January 2050. In the nomination paper, Bhattarai's proposer was Haribol Bhattarai and his supporter was Dhruvram Bhandari, while Vidya's proposer was Narayan Dhakal, chairman of Kathmandu District Development Committee, and UML leader Vidur Mainali was his supporter. The election contest between 69-year-old Bhattarai and 32-year-old Bhandari was becoming very interesting.

In the by-election, 25 candidates were nominated in Kathmandu-1 at that time . Jogmehar Shrestha of Rashtriya Prajatantra Party and Jayanarayan Jha of Nepal Sadbhavana Party were candidates in the election. Likewise, Tank Karki of the Democratic People's Party, Arun Subedi of the Rashtriya Janata Parishad, Kedar Khadka of the Nepal Labor Farmers Party, Uddhav Gurung of the Communist Party of Nepal (Democratic), Lakshman Pandey of the Communist Party of Nepal and Krishna Prasad Ghimire of the Janata Party were candidates.

Laxmansingh Khadka and Sanu Khadka were candidates as independent candidates. Similarly, Herakrishna Khadgi, Surendraman Shakya, Ashok Pokharel, Rampyari Devi Yadav, Nana Gurung, Singh Bahadur Lama, Harihar Acharya, Jogman Lama, Hariram Shrestha, Indrabajr Lama, Harikrishna Dangol, Suvarnakumar Shrestha, Sheikh Abdul Salam and Madansingh Rana among others had registered their candidature independently. Khadgi and Shakya were discussed by UML. United People's Front, which was recognized as a national party in 2048, boycotted the election. He did not register his candidacy. 

Although there were many candidates in the election competition, the talk was about Bhattarai and Bhandari. Bhattarai, defeated by his husband Madan, can defeat his wife Vidya? Citizens who are interested in the election were asking this question. UML said that the death of Madan-Jivraj was not natural and sent a negative message to the Congress government along with the Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. Also, due to the death of General Secretary Bhandari, who had created a popular image in the eyes of the common people, the sympathy of the voters towards Vidya was visible.