Nepal Communist Party (NCP) leader Shakti Bahadur Basnet, who was elected as a member of the House of Representatives with 34,151 votes in the last election, is contesting the election for the fourth time.

Basnet had won 32,281 votes in the 2074 BS election and started his parliamentary journey by winning the second election of the Constituent Assembly in 2070 BS. He also became the Minister of Forests, Environment and Home Affairs.

‘I have filed my candidacy again to take the journey of development and prosperity of Jajarkot to a higher level,’ he said, ‘There are still some tasks left to be completed by the people.’ He wants to maintain his legacy, while candidates from other parties are engaged in the election campaign to destroy his ‘fortress’.

UML has nominated central member Dammar Bahadur Singh as its candidate for the House of Representatives. This is the second time that he and Basnet of the NCP are competing in the election. Singh is a central member of the party. Singh, 61, started politics by resigning from his job as a teacher in 2056 BS. He became a central member for the first time in the 10th general convention held in Chitwan after becoming a deputy secretary and secretary. This is his second term.

He was defeated by Basnet, a member of the House of Representatives in 2070 BS. Similarly, in the 2079 BS provincial assembly member election, Congress candidate Bedraj Singh won with 18,543 votes, while Singh was satisfied with 11,470 votes. 'Good governance, development and prosperity are our agenda,' he says, 'Strong organization, activism and the popular works done by the party in the past are the basis of my victory.'

Similarly, the Congress has fielded youth leader Khadak Bahadur Budha as a candidate for the first time. He is the district vice-president of the party. He started politics from the Nepal Students' Union and was the president of the Bheri Gyanodaya Campus in 2064 BS. He claimed that he had filed his candidacy as per the demands of the Gen-G generation. ‘I have a roadmap for Jajarkot of yesterday, today and tomorrow,’ he said, ‘What are the pains that the people of the district have experienced yesterday? I am reaching out to the voters with an agenda to connect every issue of the district with the state and take it on the path of good governance, development and prosperity.’ He said that the demands of all classes, genders and communities, including the genji, are on his priority.

11 people, including Raghav Karki from the National Independent Party (RSWP), Krishna Bikram Shah from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, have filed their candidacies in Jajarkot. But since there is not much organization from other parties, the main competition will be between the candidates of the three main parties, said civic leader Bal Kumar Sharma. He complains that due to the negligence of the winning candidates, government service delivery, development and construction work have not been effective in Jajarkot for a long time.

‘Earthquake victims have been forced to live in permanent shelters for two years, the federal government has never paid attention to their problems,’ he said, ‘Now the situation has changed, it is necessary for voters to make the most capable and qualified candidate victorious.’ He said that it is necessary to institutionalize the agenda of youth employment, good governance, economic prosperity and development as per the demands of the Genji generation through this election.

In the last House of Representatives election, NCP candidate Basnet had won from the former Maoists with 34,151 votes. An alliance was formed between the Nepali Congress and the former Maoists in that election. Similarly, in Provincial Assembly 1 (1), Congress’s Bedraj Singh had won with 18,543 votes and Congress’s Rajib Bikram Shah had won in Provincial Assembly 1 (2) with 16,400 votes. In Jajarkot, which has 7 local levels, the Congress has won 3 mayors/chairmen, the UML has won 3, and the Nepali Communist Party (NCP) has won one mayor/chairman position, while the Congress and the NCP have won 3/3 and the UML has won one deputy mayor/chairman position.

There are 107,091 voters in Jajarkot. Of these, 56,705 are men and 50,384 are women, according to the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer. According to the office, 88 polling stations and 146 polling stations have been set up across the district.