Voters in market areas say they need new faces in parliament, while voters in rural areas want leaders who will provide solutions to the problems they have been facing for years, such as the high prices of fertilizers, seeds, rice, drinking water, and roads.
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Major parties have fielded new candidates for the upcoming elections in Dhangadhi constituency (Kailali-5), the temporary capital and commercial hub of the Far West. Nar Narayan Shah (Manu) is the candidate from the Nepali Congress, Yagya Raj Dhungana from the UML, and Ananda Bahadur Chand from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Former minister Prem Ale Doti has come to Dhangadhi to contest from the NCP.
This is the first contest in the parliamentary journey of former Congress Kailali president Shah. The name of former Foreign Minister Arju Deuba Rana was in the news from this constituency. The district party office had also recommended him as the first candidate. After Gagan Thapa was elected president of the Congress at the special general convention, Arju could not become a candidate. Shah, who was once considered close to Sher Bahadur Deuba and was recommended as the second candidate, got the ticket. The names of Dilliraj Pant and Nrip Bahadur Wad were also recommended in this constituency.
Another candidate, Dhungana UML, is the president of Kailali. This is the first parliamentary contest for him too. Meanwhile, Prem Ale, who has been an MP from Doti three times and has also become a minister, has made Dhangadhi a contesting constituency for the first time. Chand of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is also a new face. Chand used to teach at Tribhuvan University. The RPP has fielded Roshan Shahi as its candidate.
In Kailali-5, UML, the then Maoists and the Left alliance won in the 2011 mid-term elections, the 2017 Constituent Assembly elections and in 2017, UML, the then Maoists and the Left alliance won respectively. In 2018, 2018, 2019, Congress candidates won.
In the 2019 election, Congress's Dilliraj Panta won directly by securing 21,392 votes. His nearest rival, UML's Naradmuni Rana, received 20,318 votes. In the proportional representation, Congress received 15,117 votes, UML received 14,321 votes, Maoists received 5,736 votes, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) received 4,455 votes and Unified Socialist Party received 916 votes. RPP received 6,947 votes in the proportional representation.
Congress candidate Shah said that his main election agenda is to improve the living standards of citizens below the poverty line and stop youth migration abroad. NCP candidate Prem Ale announced his plan to focus on ending corruption and upgrading Dhangadhi Airport. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) candidate Chand said that his first priority is improving education and health. UML's Dhungana said that he will stand strongly in protecting nationalism and building development.
When the Kantipur team reached Kanari in Dhangadhi Sub-metropolitan City-15, 54-year-old Sitaram Chaudhary was sitting with his neighbor and drinking tea. The villagers, including him, suddenly saw a new face entering the house premises and stopped asking for votes. He hurriedly vacated the place where he was sitting and asked us to stay. While we were sitting, we said, 'We have come to understand the election situation, not to ask for votes', Sitaram Kadkiha said, 'We do not care about the election, these are all just worldly matters.'
We asked, 'Why are you so disappointed about the election?'
He said, 'Why not be disappointed? When elections come, they only come to say that they will do this and that after winning, they do not show their faces before and after, they only come to give false assurances during the elections.’
He is most disappointed that the paddy he has grown with hard work is not getting a good price. ‘Last year, we sold paddy for 3200 rupees per quintal, this year we are selling it for 2400,’ he says, ‘In such a situation, are we farmers happy or sad? Who will understand our plight? Do the leaders and the government care?’
He slowly started expressing his sorrow. Whatever he said, the villagers who were leaning on him kept saying yes and supporting him. Arguing that they had lost trust in the old faces of the same party, he argued that a new face should come who understands the farmers and their problems.
‘Old faces are visible, won’t the new arrivals also understand the sentiments of the families of those who lost their lives in police firing during the Gen-G movement?’ He said, ‘I also hope that they will act accordingly.’ He suggested that the incoming leadership should understand the sufferings of the farmers and make arrangements for selling paddy at a reasonable price and getting fertilizer at a cheap price. He also demanded that irrigation facilities be made available.
‘Our ward is a paddy pocket area, the government should take a guarantee for the price of the paddy that has been produced,’ he said, ‘There are more than 200 farmers who grow paddy commercially, but even if we come into the eyes of the candidates during the elections, we tend to forget about them afterwards.’
According to Ward No. 15 Chairman Sukhdev Rana, the main product here is paddy, but the farmers do not get the price fixed as per the government rules. ‘We have to sell it immediately and buy fertilizer and seeds for wheat,’ he said. ‘When we do not get the price when we sell it, farmers are forced to sell it cheaply.’
Although the government price is 34 to 36 hundred per quintal, this time the farmers have received only up to 2400 rupees, he said. Wards 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 of Dhangadhi fall within the rice pocket area. ‘We have been made to pay more taxes by being included in the sub-metropolitan city,’ he says. ‘We are a rural area, not an urban area.’
There is a problem of flooding in the settlements due to the floods of the Khutia and Sivaganga rivers. ‘The river enters the settlements of Urmi, Kanari and Janwa during floods,’ he said. ‘Even though embankments are demanded for many places, they are built in only a few places.’
While the locals of the market area are looking for a new face in the parliament, the demands and expectations of the voters of the inner city are different. They are mostly united in favor of voting for those who will solve the problems of fertilizer, seeds, rice prices, drinking water, and roads that they have been facing for years. Binu Chaudhary, 28, of Ward 15 Kanari, says that even though they are residents of the suburban municipality, they do not get the same services as Dhangadhi Bazaar. ‘There is a problem of flooding here, floods enter the settlement during the rainy season,’ she says, ‘If there were a proper embankment, it would not have been flooded.’
Maheshwori, 40, of Phulbari in Dhangadhi-19, says that even though leaders make various promises during the elections, they never fulfill them. ‘My elders have gone to India after not finding employment here,’ she says, ‘I have raised my children alone. If only they had found work here, they wouldn't have had to go to India.' Her husband Dambar Singh has reached Madras, India, in search of employment. She complained that they are still living in a squatter settlement and have not even received a land title deed.
Not only land title deed, but also water is also a problem, said 38-year-old Khima Devi Kunjeda of the same ward. '12 families in this place do not have land titles. We have been living in this area since 2036 BS, but we have not received land titles yet,' she said. 'Even after digging 150 meters deep underground, water does not come. They say that the village gets budget for such work, but we do not know where it goes.' She complained that she is forced to go to distant neighboring villages to fetch water.
It ranks 5th among the 5 constituencies of Kailali. According to the 2078 BS census, the population is 211,713. According to the National Statistics Office, the annual population growth rate of this area is 2.63 percent. According to the 2011 census, the total population of the constituency is 211,713, with 19.8 percent of the population aged 16 to 24. Kailali-5 is also among the 10 constituencies with the highest population aged 16 to 24. The total number of voters in the district is 551,052.
Of which, 280,243 are female and 270,798 are male voters. There are only 110,539 voters in constituency number 5. On the other hand, voters in the Dhangadhi Bazaar area are in the mood to change their minds this time. Those who are fed up with the old faces are in favor of new leadership and new faces. One of them is 50-year-old Nawaraj Baral of Dhangadhi-7. He says that new faces should come in instead of the ones they have seen before. ‘New faces should also be given a chance,’ he says, ‘Now the old leadership should be changed and good governance should be established.’
Ganesh Bohara, 51, of Taranagar in Dhangadhi-5, also argues that they should vote for candidates with new ideas. ‘They have voted for the old ones repeatedly, but they have not done anything,’ he complained, ‘Let’s see the new ones once, maybe they will do something good!’ The locals in this area seem to be unanimous in finding an alternative to the old faces in the upcoming elections.
Tek Bahadur Khadka, a construction businessman from Dhangadhi-5, says that no party should give a chance to the new ones instead of the old faces. ‘It is not that the Gen-G generation should come in the upcoming elections,’ he says, ‘You can think about giving a chance to the new faces from the old party when you vote.’ But he complains that even though candidates talk a lot before the elections, they forget everything after winning. ‘People have stopped believing in promises that are made without being able to be implemented during the elections,’ he says, ‘Now, when the candidates reach the doorsteps of the people, the leadership should come who will fulfill the promises made by the candidates.’
Rajendra Bohra, 23, of Dhangadhi-7, says that the first task of those who are elected and lead the government should be to create an environment for employment in their own country. ‘Let there be an environment for employment in our own country, so that we don’t have to go abroad at my age,’ he says, recounting his experience of young people like him being forced to go abroad every day. ‘Let there be an environment where we can use the skills we have learned here, and let there be an environment where those who win the election can help those who are better than us.’
Hemraj Pant, former principal of Kailali Multiple Campus, says that Dhangadhi is the capital of the Far Western Province, so people from all over live here. ‘Just like Kathmandu, the federal capital of Nepal, there are people from all over who come and live here,’ he said. ‘Again, Dhangadhi is the hub of everything, industry, education, and health.’ He said that the election atmosphere has not yet been created in the district and that top party leaders are in the process of coming and creating the election atmosphere.
‘The parties are the same in Kailali-5, but new faces have appeared in the election field,’ he said, ‘Now the election atmosphere is gradually becoming.’ He said that the expectation of the voters of this region is that the leadership going to parliament should change in the election. Again, he says that the votes of regional relations will have a greater impact in this region. ‘The candidates who migrated from the district and settled here will get the votes of those coming from that district,’ he said, ‘They are the vote bank for the candidates, such votes are from 5 to 40 percent.’ He argues that such votes will make a big difference in winning or losing. ‘That is why most candidates compete with each other to attract votes of regional relations in their favor,’ he said.
