The Congress is in the midst of recommending candidates for the upcoming House of Representatives and National Assembly elections. Candidates ranging from old faces to Gen-G youth are seen as aspiring candidates.

Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba's name has been recommended as a single candidate from Dadeldhura. He has been winning elections from here continuously since 2048 BS. Dadeldhura Congress has unanimously recommended the name of 80-year-old Deuba to be the candidate for the eighth time. 

Under pressure from the Gen-G movement, Deuba had separated from the party leadership by giving the responsibility of acting president to Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka.  However, Deuba has indicated that he will not take a break from parliamentary politics. 

While General Secretary Gagan Thapa is increasing pressure to distribute tickets only with the signatures of the new leadership to be elected from the upcoming general convention, Deuba is busy with the homework of distributing not only the list of proportional candidates to be submitted to the Election Commission on Poush 18 and 19, but also direct tickets under his own leadership. 

The central convention of the Nepali Congress has been scheduled for Poush 26-28. While there is growing uncertainty about whether the convention will be held on the scheduled date or not, the process of recommending candidates from across the country is underway as per the instructions of the center.

According to Krishna Poudel, the list of candidates recommended from the federal constituency reaches the center through the district working committee, from the district working committee to the provincial working committee. The lists of candidates have not yet reached the center. “The provincial working committee will meet tomorrow, and only then will the process of sending them to the center begin,” Poudel said.

Candidates have been recommended from most of the 165 constituencies under the House of Representatives and have gone to the districts. Some districts have even sent them to the provinces. Some have been stopped due to disputes. Since the constituency includes the names of all aspirants in the recommendation, it is seen that some leaders may still be up and down.

This time, most of the 32 Congress MPs who represented the then House of Representatives will not be able to vote again in the proportional representation system. Article 33(2) of the Congress statute has made a provision that proportional representation MPs cannot be voted in.

Due to such a provision in the statute, Joint General Secretary Jeevan Pariyar, Spokesperson Prakash Sharan Mahat, and former Vice President Bimalendra Nidhi, who were MPs in the then Parliament from the proportional representation system, have been recommended directly this time. Most of the women leaders, including former Foreign Minister Arju Rana Deuba, have also shown their aspirations for the direct representation system this time.

Women leaders Ambika Basnet, Ishwari Neupane, Sarita Prasai, Pratima Gautam, Nagina Yadav, Muktkumari Yadav, Chanda Chaudhary, and others will not get the facility of proportional representation this time. Most of them have their names recommended as direct candidates.

Along with the decision of the meeting on November 15, the Congress had issued a circular to 165 election regional working committees to recommend the names of candidates. According to the statute, the provincial regional working committee has to recommend the names of three people for direct elections and two people, including a woman, for proportional elections.

If there are more aspirants than specified in the statute, the regional working committee has the right to select the names of three people for direct elections and two people for proportional elections based on majority agreement after reaching an agreement in a meeting with the general convention representatives and provincial regional representatives of its area.

However, most regional working committees have recommended the names of all aspirants without deciding on a majority basis. Only a few limited areas have selected the names through voting and sent the number specified in the statute. The Congress has also demanded candidates for the National Assembly elections on Magh 11.

For the election of one-third members of the National Assembly, districts under the province have been instructed to send the names of at least three people who have met the qualifications for one post. Chief Secretary Poudel says that the list of proportional, direct and National Assembly candidates will come from below simultaneously.

The parliamentary committee under the Central Working Committee selects the candidates from the list recommended from below. The tickets of the leaders who have been recommended individually from the region have been secured. Among those who have been recommended individually, Congress Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka is from Surkhet-1.

General Secretary Gagan Thapa has been recommended individually from Kathmandu-4. However, apart from Kathmandu, his name has also been recommended individually from Tehrathum, and has also been recommended from Dhankuta-1, Rolpa-1 and Sarlahi-4. Another General Secretary, Bishwo Prakash Sharma, has been recommended individually from Jhapa-1.

Congress leaders Shekhar Koirala and Sunil Sharma have been single-recommended from Morang-6 and Morang-3. Former Vice President Bimalendra Nidhi's name has been recommended from Dhanusha-3. Dr. Firdos Alam has also been single-recommended from Rautahat-2. He is the son of Mohammad Aftab Alam.

Similarly, Devendra Raj Kandel's name has been single-recommended from Nawalparasi-2. Gajendra Prasad Tumyahang has also been single-recommended from Taplejung. Despite the adverse political situation, there is a surge of candidate aspirants in the Congress. Dozens of people have been recommended from one constituency in some districts. According to leaders, the number of candidate aspirants has decreased further since the provincial and local elections were not held at the same time.

Congress leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula has recommended his son Shyam Prasad Sitaula in his constituency this time. Sitaula, who had earlier lost the election from the same constituency to RPP Chairman Rajendra Lingden, had immediately become an MP in the National Assembly.

President Deuba's wife Arju Rana Deuba, who is also a former foreign minister, has been recommended from Kailali-5 and Bardiya-2. The Deuba couple was fatally attacked by protesters on Bhadra 24 during the Gen-G movement. Rana's name could not be recommended as a single recommendation.

In both constituencies, her name and the names of others have also been recommended. Rana has previously been elected as an MP three times through proportional representation. She is trying to contest directly due to the system of not being able to be proportional in consecutive rounds.

Party Vice President Dhanraj Gurung's name has been recommended from both constituencies of Syangja. 11 names including Gurung and then MP Raju Thapa have been recommended from Constituency 1 of Syangja, while 12 names including former USB President Gopalman Shrestha have been recommended from Constituency 2.

Party spokesperson Prakasharan Mahat's name has been recommended from Kathmandu and Nuwakot. 6 names including Mahat and former Minister Pradeep Poudel have been recommended from Kathmandu-5. Poudel defeated UML's influential leader Ishwar Pokharel from this constituency in the 2079 election. Poudel's name has also been recommended from Tanahun-1. Mahat has been recommended from Nuwakot-1. Mahat has made it a priority to contest the election from Nuwakot-1.

Congress leader NP Sawad has been recommended from Kanchanpur-2. Three names, including Savad, have been recommended from this constituency. Two names have been recommended from the regional working committee election in Kanchanpur-1. The names of Gopal Prasad Upadhyay and Bharat Bista have been recommended from the election held among four aspirants.

The names have not been finalized in Kanchanpur-3. Nine names, including former minister Deepak Khadka, have been recommended from Sankhuwasabha, which has only one constituency. Ten names, including Govinda Bhattarai, Ramchandra Pokharel, and Deepak Bhattarai, have been recommended from Tanahun-1.

After Ramchandra Poudel became the President, RSVP Vice President Swarnim Wagle became an MP by defeating Congress central member Govinda Bhattarai. Similarly, seven names, including then MP Shankar Bhandari and Pradeep Poudel, have been recommended from Tanahun-2.

BP's son Shashank Koirala has been recommended from Nawalpur-1 this time too. Including him, 13 names have been recommended from this constituency. In Nawalpur-2, more than three names including Bishnu Karki have been recommended.

In Kaski, there has been a dispute over the recommendation of candidates. The dispute arose after the district directly recommended the candidates without making a recommendation by the regional working committee of Kaski constituency number 1. While collecting the names of the aspirants, the regional committee had listed 12 names directly and 8 names through proportional representation.

Similarly, from Kaski-2, 13 names including Birendra Narayan Bijukchhe have been recommended, while from Kaski-3, 16 names have been recommended. From Nawalparasi-2, Devendra Raj Kandel and Nawalparasi-1 Ba Binod Chaudhary have been recommended. Kadel's name has been recommended individually.

Three names including Sarita Prasai and Chhatra Bahadur Giri have been recommended in Jhapa-2, while three names have been recommended in Jhapa-4 and five names have been recommended in Jhapa-5. It has been reported that the names may go up or down until they reach the center. Seven names have been recommended from Jhapa-5.

Three names including Dik Bahadur Limbu have been recommended in Morang-1, three names including Minendra Rijal have been recommended in Morang-2, five names including Mahesh Acharya and Gururaj Ghimire have been recommended in Morang-5. Three names including Narayan Khadka have been recommended from Udayapur-1 and three names from Udayapur-2.

Seven names including former minister Bir Bahadur Balayar and former president of the Nepali Congress Nain Singh Mahar have been recommended from Kailali-4. Five names including Ishwari Neupane have been recommended from Kailali-1. Neupane was a proportional representation MP in the then parliament. 10 names including Krishnaraj Pandey and Bir Bahadur Tharu have been recommended from Kailali-2. Four names have been recommended from Kailali-3.

Prakash Man Singh, who was also a former Deputy Prime Minister, has been recommended from Kathmandu-1 this time too. Four names including Singh have been recommended from this constituency.

Amit Singh Karki and 7 names have been recommended from Kathmandu-8. Five names including Pratima Gautam and Lokesh Dhakal have been recommended from Kathmandu-2. Gautam is a proportional representation MP in the then parliament. The names of some other constituencies in Kathmandu are still in progress and have not been made public.

Similarly, Congress Joint General Secretary Mahendra Yadav has been recommended from Dhanusha-4. He was defeated from the same constituency in the 2079 elections. Now, former President Ram Baran Yadav's son Dr. Three names including Chandrakant Yadav have been recommended.

Three names have been recommended from Dhanusha-1. Dhunusha-2 recommendation is yet to be sent. Joint General Secretary Bhishma Raj Angdambe's name has been recommended from Panchthar. Leaders including Mahalaxmi Upadhyayak have been recommended from Makawanpur-1.

9 names including Umesh Thapa from Sunsari-1, 3 names including Rajiv Koirala from Sunsari-2, Vijay Kumar Gachhadar and Dev Gachhadar from Sunsari-3, and Gyanendra Bahadur Karki and Gafar Ansari from 4.

Seven names including Udaya Shamsher Rana have been recommended from Lalitpur-1, which has three constituencies. Similarly, from Lalitpur-2, Diwakar Nepal and the others have been recommended, from Lalitpur-3, Madan Bahadur Amatya and Dhana Khatiwada have been recommended.

From Banke-1, Poshan KC and Narayan Prasad Poudel have been recommended. From Banke-2, Gajendra Hamal and Sudip Narsingh Rana have been recommended. From Banke-3, Joint General Secretary Kishore Singh Rathore has been recommended. Rathore's name has also been recommended from Bardiya-2. Rathore won the election from Bardiya-2.

From Bardiya-1, 4 people including former minister Sanjay Kumar Gautam have been recommended, and from Bardiya-2, 10 people including Arju Rana and Kishore Singh Rathore have been recommended. In addition to General Secretary Thapa, 5 people including Amar Singh Pun and Manoj Mani Acharya have been recommended in Rolpa-1.

The name of Balkrishna Khand, an accused leader in the Bhutanese refugee case, has been recommended from Rupendehi-3. The names of five other people have also been recommended from this constituency. Four people including Surendra Kumar Acharya have been recommended from Kapilvastu-2, and the then Chief Whip of the Parliament, Shyam Kumar Ghimire, from Sindhuli-1.