In the center of Dhankuta Bazaar, there is a half-century-old community building. There is a large hall with a stage that can accommodate about 200 people.

The building has facilities such as women's and men's toilets, changing rooms, offices and receptions, verandas and more. This building was built in 2033/034 BS by the then Dhankuta City Plan. This building is famous not only for religious and family gatherings and feasts such as weddings, bratabandha, chevar, pasni, but also for organizing training, coaching, cultural and musical programs of organizations, indoor sports practices and competitions, as well as gatherings of organizations and political parties.

Apart from these occasions, when there is an election, the special importance of this building increases even more. This building remains at the center of every election activity of Panchayat, multi-party, active monarchy and republican systems. This building has been mainly used during every local, provincial and federal election from the referendum of 2036 BS to the democratic republic.

Rajendra Pradhan, the then Dhankuta Nagar Panchayat Pradhan, whose home is in Tallokopche, says that the main programs and activities of every election after 2036 BS were held in this building. He says, ‘All the elections held so far, whether in a non-party, multi-party, active monarchy or republic, have been held in this building.’ He said that since Dhankuta was the headquarters of the Eastern Region at that time, this building was built to organize various public programs. He said, ‘This community building was not built as a place to hold programs when the king, prime minister and ministers came.’

The referendum held in 2036 BS, the elections for national panchayat members in 2038 BS and 2043 BS, the village panchayat in 2044 BS, the multi-party parliamentary elections held in 2048 BS after the democratic movement in 2046 BS, the local body elections in 2049 BS, the mid-term elections of the parliament in 2051 BS, and the local body elections in 2054 BS were also held from this building. Nagendra Rai, a veteran journalist from Dhankuta, says that the entire process of the parliamentary election of 2056 BS, the local body election conducted by the then King Gyanendra Shah in 2062 BS during the hereditary monarchy was completed from this building.

He said that this building was used during every election held under the independent panchayat, multi-party parliamentary system, and the king's authoritarian rule. After the establishment of the republic, he said that this building also hosted both the Constituent Assembly elections held in 2064 BS and 2070 BS, and the local level, provincial and federal parliament elections held in 2074 BS and 2079 BS. Rai said, 'This house is a silent witness to every election from the panchayat to the republic.'

He said that the atmosphere here will be different due to the crowd, banners, posters, movement of party leaders and workers, candidates, people interested in politics, employees and security personnel that have been gathering around this building since the election process began. The building has once again become a local talking point after the office of the Chief Electoral Officer was established on Friday for the House of Representatives elections scheduled for Falgun 21. The Chief Electoral Officer is District Judge Harish Chandra Ingnam.

The internal election procedures, orders, all-party meetings, press conferences, voter list registration, employee orientation, candidate nomination, ballot box storage, vote counting, announcement of final results, and distribution of certificates to the elected will be conducted from this building. The days and nights of ballot box distribution, transportation, storage, and vote counting are still unforgettable, says Sitaram Gautam, Deputy Secretary of Dhankuta Municipality, who has worked as an election employee since 2046.

He said that the start of the election process and the first notification of the results will be issued from here. He says, ‘Leaders of various parties, workers, election offices, the office of the Chief Election Officer, security agencies, observers, media representatives, office assistants and the general public sit under one roof and participate in democratic exercises,’ he said, ‘This is the house where people from ward members to the Prime Minister are elected. Surya Bahadur Thapa, who was declared elected from this building, became the Prime Minister five times, and the process that started from this house has led to hundreds of people’s representatives reaching the Council of Ministers from the ward.’