Gorkha is the district where Baburam Bhattarai has been contesting and winning elections since the then Maoist rebels joined the peace process. However, he did not contest the 2079 House of Representatives elections, not just in Gorkha, but anywhere else.

In Gorkha-2, where he was contesting, he supported and won the then Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Bhattarai, on the other hand, was the chairman of a different party, the Nepal Samajwadi Party. While announcing that he would not contest the election, Bhattarai had said on 17 Asoj 2079, ‘Not contesting the election does not mean leaving politics, correct and good politics is a means of all-round progressive transformation of society and serving the people/society.’

That is why it was assumed that he would not return to the electoral contest. But he registered his candidacy from Gorkha-2 on Tuesday for the upcoming House of Representatives election. Again surprising the voters, he withdrew his candidacy on Friday.

With former Prime Minister Bhattarai, who is the patron of the Progressive Democratic Party, withdrawing from the contest, Gorkha is not going to be left out of the election discussion. In Gorkha-1, the leader of the Gen-G movement, Sudhan Gurung, has filed his candidacy from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which has attracted the attention of many. There is also interest in whether he will be able to end the dominance that the then Maoists (now NCP) have been holding since 2064.

Gorkha-2, on the other hand, is in the news because of the UML candidate Milan Gurung (Chakre Milan) with a gangster background. RSSSP General Secretary Kavindra Burlakoti is also a candidate here. For this reason, this area has caught the attention of RSSSP leaders and workers. On the other hand, the Congress and the NCP are already strong contenders.

The candidates who registered their candidacies at the district headquarters on Tuesday have started entering the villages for voter meetings. After withdrawing their candidacy, leader Bhattarai has announced that he will support people and forces committed to progressive democracy with ideas.

Bhattarai said that he withdrew his candidacy after receiving suggestions from all sides that it would be better to sit as a common person than to stand as a single party. ‘The issues raised by Gen-G demand consensus. It was also said that it can be resolved by sitting as a common guardian,’ he said, ‘Pralopa has already accepted the guardianship. The new alternative force has also seen me as a guardian.’

RSVP Vice President Swarnim Wagle had publicly appealed to Bhattarai to withdraw his candidacy. Pralopa District Coordinator Narayan Khatri said in a statement that no decision has been made on which party and candidate to support now. He said that the district party will soon decide who to support in the direct elections. Pralopa’s Gopalbabu Shrestha has also withdrawn his candidacy from Gorkha-1. 

The calculation of the benefits/losses to candidates of other parties if Bhattarai’s candidacy is maintained or not has already begun. It is estimated that which candidate Bhattarai supports will have an impact on the election results. The competing political parties, however, have an analysis claiming that it will benefit them. 

Bhattarai had won from Gorkha-2 in the 2064 Constituent Assembly and 2074 House of Representatives elections. In the 2070 Constituent Assembly elections, he won from Gorkha-1. He was a Maoist during both the Constituent Assembly elections. He had won the election from the Naya Shakti Party in 2074. At that time, Bhattarai got 31,807 votes, while his nearest rival Narayan Kaji Shrestha of the UML-then Maoist alliance got 24,933 votes. 

In 2079, Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the then Maoist party won in Gorkha-2 with the support of the Congress and others. At that time, his nearest rival Kavindra Burlakoti of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) got 26,109 votes. UML candidate Abdus Salam Miya came third with 7,395 votes. In this region, the Maoists got the most votes with 19,000, the Congress with 11,882, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) with 8,999, and the UML with 6,185.

This time, apart from Gurung (53) and Burlakoti (46), Prakash Chandra Dawadi (50) from the Congress and Lekhnath Neupane (52) from the NCP are in the fray in Gorkha-2. Similarly, Kul Bahadur Basnet (58) from the RPP, Kalpana Kumal (44) from the Aam Janata Party, Tek Bahadur Pradhan (42) from the NCP, and Som Bahadur Gurung (43) from the Mongol National Organization are candidates.

Ram Sharan Budhathoki (56) from the Nepal Workers and Farmers Party, Balram Tamang (55) from the Ujjaya Nepal Party, and Prasad Gurung (54) from the National Republic Nepal have also filed their candidacies. Chuda Prasad Dhakal (63) and Hari Pokharel (38) have filed their candidacies as independents. There are 18,533 voters in Gorkha-2. Of these, 3,293 are new.

Dawadi of the Nepali Congress had won the 2074 provincial assembly elections by defeating the candidate of the UML-Maoist alliance. He received 15,853 votes, while the left alliance candidate Amar Tamu had 13,411 votes. Neupane, who became the president of the then Maoist student organization Akhil Krantikari during the armed insurgency, is contesting the election for the first time. Gurung of the UML, whose ancestral home is Thalajung in Gorkha, is also contesting the election for the first time. 

Voters expect that in Gorkha-1, RSP candidate Gurung (38) will challenge Hariraj Adhikari (58) of the CPN (former Maoist MP), Prem Kumar Khatri (42) of the Congress and RC Lamichhane (44) of the UML. The cadres are enthusiastic because the Congress, UML and RSP have fielded new candidates. Gurung, who is leading the Gen-G movement from the organization Hami Nepal, played a role in bringing the then mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Balendra Shah, and the RSP together.

34-year-old Kabita Bhattarai has filed her candidacy from Gorkha-1. Ramkaji Rana Magar (55) of the Ujjaya Nepal Party, Bishnu Prasad Rijal (72) of the CPN-Maoist, and Akash Rana Magar (41) of the National Republic Nepal are also in the election race. Manukumari Shrestha (56) of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, and Kedarmani Khanal (40) of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party have also filed their candidacies. Dev Bahadur Thapa (29) from the Mongol National Organization and Jit Bahadur Ghale (53) from the United Citizens Party have also filed their nominations. 

Out of the four elections held since 2064, three times the Maoist candidate and one time the Congress candidate won from Gorkha-1. In the 2079 election, Rajendra Bajgain of the Congress won in an alliance with the Maoists. Bajgain got 33,428 votes from an alliance with the Maoists and other parties.

Ram Sharan Basnet of the UML got 16,785 votes and Subarna Rokaha of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh got 4,892 votes. In the proportional representation, the NCP came first with 18,471 votes. The Congress got 15,271 votes, the UML got 11,813 votes, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh got 7,246 proportional votes. This time, all four parties have separate and new candidates. 

Gorkha-1 includes wards 1 to 7 of Gorkha Municipality, Chumanubri, Dharche, Arughat, Bhimsen Thapa, Gandaki and Sahid Lakhan rural municipalities, where there are 120,525 voters. Of these, 5,128 are new voters. The area is home to the main population of Muslims, Lamas, Ghale, Gurung, Newar, Magar, and other indigenous peoples and Khas Arya.

The candidates have started meeting voters and campaigning with the commitment to complete the 1200 MW Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project and the Benighat-Arughat-Larke road project, which has been moving slowly. The candidates have promised to work to promote tourism in the Manaslu Himal and the area, Gorkha Durbar, Manakamana Temple and other places.

Issues such as construction of infrastructure including roads, drinking water, and collection of herbs in the northern region have also become election agendas. The election agenda of the candidates who want to operate the closed Gorkhakali Rubber Industry in Gorkha-2, expand the industry in Palungtar and build a smart city is visible. There is a commitment to emphasize infrastructure development, education and health.

When the Kantipur team reached Ahale, Gorkha Municipality Ward No. 3, 70-year-old Zair Mahmud Mian was sitting on the side of the road basking in the sun. When we got to know each other, he said that this time he would vote for the youth. He added, "I am tired of voting for the elderly. Many people voted for me saying that I will bring drinking water. After the election, water will come, but from the sky."

While the conversation was going on, Aisa Mian also joined in from a nearby grocery store. Aisa, a housewife, has not yet decided who she will vote for this time. "When the leaders came to ask for votes, they made me feel comfortable and refused many times," she said. "This time, I will have to think carefully and vote."

32-year-old engineer Shahid Miyan, who was with him, expressed his anger at the old parties. He was working on a project in Rolpa and had come home on leave. ‘After the Gen-G movement, awareness has come to the locals,’ Shahid said, ‘There is a possibility of changing the vote this time. Because the old parties and their candidates have not shown the ability to change the country.’ He said that even if the old party is not ready to change its vote, it may come under pressure from the younger generation. 

Sitamaya Shrestha, who was met at the grocery store in Gorkha Ahale, is in favor of giving opportunities to new and young candidates. ‘Others in the village are also saying that the old leader’s turn has come,’ she said, ‘Everyone should get their turn. We should see the new one once.’ After leaving Ahale and reaching about 10 minutes away, 86-year-old Indra Bahadur Kandel was found at a tea shop. He said that just because someone is new, there is no need to vote and not follow suit. ‘Will the new ones create more chaos or the country?’ He doubts, ‘Did the youth come only with their strength or do they also have intelligence? They should only be given a chance after considering it.’ 

Surya Gurung of Dharche-7 Lapu said that the rural areas have not been touched by the elections. When Kantipur brought up the topic of the elections, he said, ‘Elections come and go. There is no work to improve the living standards of the people. Only the candidates and the party organizations will be elected.’ He also expressed the view that a candidate who can be a common cause for everyone should be chosen in this election.

In previous elections, the candidates of Gorkha-1 had made the 1200 MW Budhi Gandaki Hydropower Project a major election issue. But the locals have complained that the project has not progressed. Bishnu Prasad Amgain of Gandaki-3 Phujel says that the old parties have ignored the Budhi Gandaki Project. ‘It does not seem like we should expect those who have become candidates now to build Budhi Gandaki,’ he said.

Amgain also said that young people in the city and abroad are saying that they should look at the new ones this time. ‘It seems that the new ones can do it, but they don’t have the experience,’ he said, ‘That’s probably why the old people in the villages are silent.’ Voters from the district headquarters to the Budhigandaki Hydropower Project-affected areas and Chumanubri, which borders Tibet, also have mixed views on the election. 

Gorkha Campus chief Nawaraj Pandey says voters are looking for alternatives. ‘When you go around the villages, you hear the idea that you should change your vote,’ he said. He expects the competition to be tough as the power of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is growing in the district and Gen-G movement leader Sudhan Gurung has also filed his candidacy. ‘Sudhan’s own personal influence is not much visible at the local level. But at this time, the RSS is seen in the center of the voters. Therefore, Sudhan can be the main competitor.’ 

Sudhan Gurung, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) candidate in Gorkha-1, said that he is contesting the election to complete the unfinished and incomplete work in the country and the district. “Rather than asking for votes, I will try to understand and solve the problems of the people in the villages,” he said.

Lamichhane, the UML candidate in Gorkha-1, claims that voters will support him because he is a young and new candidate. “Those who have entered politics with passion and have been tested are in the field,” he says. “I believe that UML will be preferred by voters over them.”

He says that Sudhan Gurung will attract the tribal votes of the NCP and that he will benefit from the internal disputes in the Congress. ‘मनकामनाको शिरदेखि चुमनुव्रीको भीरसम्म शिक्षा, स्वास्थ्य, पूर्वाधार, रोजगारको सुविधा पुर्‍याउने मेरो चुनावी वाचा हुन्छ,’ लामिछाने भन्छन्, ‘चुनाव जितेपछि मनास्लुमा पर्यटन प्रवर्द्धन गर्ने, तिब्बतसँगको उत्तरी नाका खोल्न पहल गर्ने र बुढीगण्डकीलाई निचोडमा पुर्‍याउने काम गर्नेछु ।’

कांग्रेस जिल्ला सचिव किशोरजंग थापा कांग्रेस केन्द्रदेखि नै बदलिएकाले यस पटक जिल्लाको मत परिणाम बदलिने बताउँछन् । ‘सबै उम्मेदवारलाई प्रतिस्पर्धी मानेका छौं । नेकपा हाम्रो मुख्य प्रतिस्पर्धी हो,’ उनी भन्छन्, ‘तर दुवै क्षेत्रमा कांग्रेसले आफ्नो पक्षमा नतिजा ल्याउँछ ।’ विकास र समुन्नत गोरखा बनाउन मतदातासँग मत माग्ने उनको भनाइ छ । बाबुराम भट्टराईले उम्मेदवारी फिर्ता गर्दा कांग्रेसलाई फाइदा पुग्ने उनले दाबी गरे । 

नेकपाका जिल्ला निर्वाचन समितिका संयोजक अमर तमुले विरासत, विगतको निर्वाचनको मतभार, बलियो र चलायमान संगठन भएकाले दुवै क्षेत्रमा आफ्नो पार्टीको जित सुनिश्चित रहेको दाबी गरे । ‘हाम्रा उम्मेदवार सक्षम र क्षमतावान् छन् । विरासत कायमै रहन्छ,’ उनले भने ।

भट्टराईको उम्मेदवारी फिर्ताले नेकपाका उम्मेदवारलाई जितनजिक पुर्‍याएको उनले बताए । ‘बाबुरामले सम्मानजनक बहिर्गमन रोज्नुभयो । चुनावी दृष्टिकोणमा हाम्रा लागि त्यो सकारात्मक हुन्छ । उहाँले जसलाई समर्थन गरे पनि नेकपालाई फाइदा हुन्छ ।’

बुढीगण्डकी जलविद्युत् आयोजना, रबर उद्योग सञ्चालनलगायत दीर्घकालीन महत्त्वका एजेन्डा लिएर मत माग्न जाने तमुले बताए । ‘हाम्रै पालामा सडक व्यापक बने । पालुङटारदेखि भच्चेकसम्म, बेनीघाटदेखि सिर्दिबाससम्म सडक पुगेको छ । दुई वटा नगरपालिकाका वडा–वडामा कालोपत्र सडक पुगेको छ,’ तमुले भने, ‘विकास निर्माणलाई थप तीव्रता दिन मतदाताले हामीलाई जिताउँछन् ।’

चुनावी प्रचारमा अजिरकोट भच्चेक पुगेका गोरखा–२ का उम्मेदवार तथा रास्वपा महामन्त्री कवीन्द्र बुर्लाकोटीले देशभर र गोरखामा पनि रास्वपाप्रति जनलहर देखिएको बताए । ‘यस पटक मत परिवर्तन गर्छौं भन्ने मतदाता प्रशस्त भेटिएका छन् । रास्वपालाई भोट दिन्छौं भनेका छन्,’ उनले भने, ‘युवाको व्यापक आकर्षण देखिएको छ । हामी उत्साही छौं ।’

लोककल्याणकारी राज्य निर्माण गर्ने एजेन्डा लिएर देशभर चुनावमा होमिएको बुर्लाकोटीले बताए । बाबुराम भट्टराईले उम्मेदवारी फिर्ता लिएर रास्वपालाई समर्थन गर्ने सम्भावना बढी रहेको उनले बताए । ‘राजनीतिक विरासत र परिवर्तन पक्षधर भएका भट्टराईसँग रास्वपाको उच्च तहमा चरणबद्ध छलफल भएको छ,’ उनले भने, ‘उहाँको पार्टीले रास्वपालाई सघाउँछ भन्नेमा विश्वस्त छौं ।’