UML has given candidacy tickets to Rameshwar Rana in Makawanpur-1 and Mahesh Bartaula in Makawanpur-2, while other parties have not announced their candidates.
What you should know
The CPN-UML has announced the names of candidates for both constituencies of Makawanpur for the upcoming House of Representatives elections to be held on February 21. There was a suspicion that the UML would coordinate with the RPP in this election as well.
In the last House of Representatives election, UML supported former RPP Nepal Chairman Kamal Thapa by carrying the sun symbol in Makawanpur-1. UML leader Rameshwor Rana, who was in a position to file his candidacy at that time, was deprived of filing his candidacy.
Rana, who is also the UML's Makawanpur in-charge, has been given a ticket to file his candidacy from Makawanpur-1. Rana was defeated by Maoist candidate Kumari Moktan in the first Constituent Assembly election in 2064 BS. This is Rana's first time running as a candidate.
In the 2079 BS House of Representatives election, RPP leader Deepak Bahadur Singh won from Makawanpur-1 by getting 27,816 votes.
Congress candidate Mahalaxmi Dina Upadhyay got 25,423 votes, while UML candidate RPP Nepal leader Kamal Thapa got 25,420 votes. At present, other parties have not made the names of their candidates public in that area. There are 158,435 voters in the constituency.
Similarly, UML has given a ticket to outgoing MP and former UML whip Mahesh Bartaula to contest in Makawanpur-2 constituency.
Bartaula, who is also a central member of the party, had earlier defeated Birodh Khatiwada, who had fielded a candidate from the former Unified Socialist Party. Khatiwada was supported by the Nepali Congress and the Unified Maoists in that election.
In that election, UML's Mahesh Bartaula won by getting 34,916 votes, while Birodh Khatiwada got 30,396 votes. Bharat Parajuli of the National Independent Party got 12,039 votes. There are currently 156,899 voters in that constituency.
