The election atmosphere is currently at its peak and the seasonal temperature here has been decreasing since Falgun. Currently, the temperature in Upper Mustang has dropped to minus 10 degrees.
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Despite the minus-degree temperature, election campaigning is increasing in Mustang. As the date of the House of Representatives elections to be held on Falgun 21 approaches, the campaigning of political parties and their candidates is also in full swing.
When the election atmosphere began to form, the temperature in Upper Mustang reached minus 20 degrees last month. The election atmosphere is currently in full swing and since Falgun, the seasonal temperature here has been decreasing. Currently, the temperature in Upper Mustang has dropped to minus 10 degrees. The temperature in Lower Mustang is also at minus 3 degrees. However, despite the cold and adverse weather, election campaigning is going on in full swing. The election atmosphere has heated up from the grass of Lower Mustang to the coral reefs of the Nepal-China border.
Out of the eight political parties that have registered their candidacies in the district, six parties and their candidates have heated up the election atmosphere. The CPN (UML), Nepali Congress, Nepali Communist Party (NCP), National Independent Party (NRP), National Democratic Party (NDPP) and Ujjaya Nepal Party are intensifying their campaigning. The campaigning of the Mongol Nepal Organization and the Aam Janata Party and their candidates is also ongoing.
Even as the election date approaches, most of the voters who had gone down to the valley to escape the winter have not returned to the district. Some voters have started climbing towards the Himalayas. Candidates and parties are also taking various initiatives to bring back the voters.
The candidates here are advancing their election programs by prioritizing infrastructure construction, agriculture, tourism, education, and the overall development plan of Mustang district. Parties and candidates are reaching out to the people with commitments such as construction of physical infrastructure including customs, immigration, and integrated security posts at the Nepal-China northern border, the tourist route to Mansarovar in the autonomous region of Tibet through Korlanaka and tourism development, the abolition of prohibited and controlled areas in upper Mustang, modernization in the agricultural sector and proper management of wasted lands, quality education and educational facilities in all subjects up to bachelor's, roads, bridges, completion of the Mustang-Dolpa road and the Mustang-Manang road, mitigation of the climate crisis, well-equipped health infrastructure, and human resource management.
Similarly, issues such as advancing the stalled development plans in the district, developing youth entrepreneurship, and exploring the potential for overall tourism development of Mustang and emphasizing the construction of tourism infrastructure have been announced. To please the voters, the candidates are making commitments such as taking the initiative to provide land titles to landless squatters and unorganized settlers and taking the initiative to re-measure the land that was left unmeasured in Mustang in 2030 BS.
It is estimated that there will be a competition between four political parties in this district, where UML and Congress will compete alone until the 2079 BS election. Currently, Nepali Congress, UML, Nepali Communist Party, and National Independent Party are in the main competition. Meanwhile, Ujjaya Nepal and RPP are expected to challenge the main competing parties in the election to win the voters in their favor.
District Election Officer Lokendra Gyawali said that all preparations for the election have reached the final stage and the parties are also going door to door with their candidates. He said that the management and division of labor of the employees for the election, training of the employees deployed at the polling stations, etc. have been completed.
An integrated security plan has been implemented in the district for the election. More than 200 security personnel, including 501 from the Nepal Police and the Election Police from the Armed Police Force, have been mobilized for election security. Similarly, the Nepal Army is increasing patrols by establishing election security base camps in Upper Mustang and Lower Mustang.
