Rai is a leader who has contested elections from Dhankuta three times. He had previously won the 2017 and 2018 elections from here.
What you should know
Rajendra Kumar Rai has become a candidate for the fourth time from Dhankuta for the House of Representatives elections. Rai, who was single-handedly recommended by the UML District Committee, was given a ticket by the party's central secretariat meeting on Saturday.
Although he was only recommended by name from Dhankuta, there was a controversy after the names of Tikaram Chemjong and Shakuntala Basnet were added from the provincial committee. But the central secretariat meeting decided on Saturday in Rai's name. He is a leader who has contested elections three times from Dhankuta. He had previously won the elections in 2074 and 2079 from here.
Rai, who was born in the then Muga VDC of Dhankuta in 2022, was the youngest representative at the fifth national conference of ANNFSU held in Kathmandu in 2036. At that time, he was studying in grade 8.
11 years later, i.e. in 2047, he became the Dhankuta president of ANNFSU. Having become a member of the then JVS from the UML in 2049, he became the JVS vice president in 2054. After 2064, he worked as the district president three times for about 13 years. Even after the merger with the Maoists in 2075, Rajendra was the party president.
In the second Constituent Assembly election held in 2070, Dhankuta constituency no. Rai, who had filed his candidacy from 2, was defeated by the then RPP candidate Sunil Bahadur Thapa. Sunil Bahadur Thapa, the son of former Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa, has now been elected unopposed to the National Assembly representing Koshi Province on behalf of the Nepali Congress.
In the second Constituent Assembly election of 2070, Sunil Bahadur Thapa was defeated by Rajendra Kumar Rai by 454 votes. In the 2074 House of Representatives election, Rai defeated Thapa by a margin of 10,459 votes on the strength of the Left alliance. In the 2079 BS House of Representatives election, Sunil Bahadur Thapa from the Nepali Congress alliance and Rajendra Kumar Rai from the UML contested as competitors. This time too, Rai defeated Thapa by 1,397 votes.
Rai, who became the Minister for Poverty Alleviation in 2079 BS, was given the responsibility of the Ministry of Drinking Water in 2080 Falgun. He was first elected as a central member at the UML's 10th General Convention held in Mangsir in 2078 BS and was re-elected as a central member at the UML's 11th General Convention held in Mangsir in 2078 BS.
