President Ram Chandra Poudel's constituency is Tanahun-1. This is the third election in three years in this constituency.

Paudel was elected President within a few months of winning the House of Representatives election from the Congress in 2079. Then, a by-election was held in the vacant Tanahun-1 on 10 Baisakh 2080. Less than two and a half years later, the parliament was dissolved and another election is being held on 21 Falgun.

Tanahun-1 is the constituency that Paudel won for the first time in 2048 and the last time in 2079. In 2074, he lost from the same constituency. In other elections, he contested and won from Tanahun-2.

Tanahun-2 has not given any party consecutive victories in the elections since 2064, and no candidate has won repeatedly.

Govindaraj Joshi won this constituency from the Congress in 2051 and 2056. Since 2051, Paudel had won elections from Tanahun-2. When he stood in Tanahun-1 in 2074, Krishna Kumar (Kisan) Shrestha of the UML-then Maoist Left alliance won the election.

The voters here had elected Suresh Ale Magar of the then Maoist in 2064. Shankar Bhandari of the Congress won in 2070. A by-election was held in Tanahun-1, which fell vacant due to Poudel becoming the President, and Swarnim Wagle of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) won.

This time, Wagle (51) is the only one in the race from the RSS. Shankar Bhandari of the Congress, who won in 2064, is the Tanahun-2 candidate. In Tanahun-1, the Congress has fielded Govinda Bhattarai (62). Bhagwati Neupane (49) is the UML candidate and Vidyanath Dhakal (65) is the CPN (Maoist). Deepak Joshi (56), the son of former MP Govinda Raj Joshi, has filed an independent candidacy.

Ramdatta Joshi of the RPP, Ramlaxmi Duwal of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, Prem Bahadur Thapa of the Mongol National Organization, Yam Bahadur Ale of the Nepal Janmukti Party, Suman Thapa Magar of the National Republic Nepal, and Kashiram Gurung of the Shram Sanskriti Party have also become candidates. Om Bikram Pant of the CPN-Maoist, Manjil Rana of Ujjaya Nepal, and Chijamaya Adhikari of the Aam Janata Party have also filed their candidacies. Lekhnath Khanal and Sandesh Ranabhat Laudari are independent candidates.

Poudel won the 2079 election from the Congress with 25,361 votes. His nearest rival Ek Bahadur Rana Magar of the UML got 19,981 votes. Govinda Raj Joshi, who had rebelled from the Congress, got 6,886 votes as an independent candidate.

6,044 votes were cast in favor of Bikash Sigdel of the RSP. The results of the by-election held on 10 Baisakh 080 were reversed. Wagle, who left the Congress and joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), won by getting 34,919 votes. 

Govinda Bhattarai of the Congress came second by getting 20,122 votes. Bhattarai of the Congress got 9,500 fewer votes than Poudel got in 079. Former IGP of Nepal Police Sarbendra Khanal, who joined the UML and became a candidate, came third with 8,488 votes.

He also got 11,500 fewer votes than the previous UML candidate, Rana Magar. Within a span of five months, voters changed their votes, surprising the Congress, UML, and the then Maoists. Wagle was also supported internally by the Joshi group in the by-election. 

In the 079 and 080 elections, the then Maoists (NCP) supported Bhattarai, the Congress candidate. This time, the NCP has fielded its own candidate. The NCP candidate Dhakal is a former UML. After the party split, he joined the Unified Socialist Party (S).

He joined the unity between the then Maoists and the S. Dhakal was a candidate for the Provincial Assembly member from Tanahun-1(1) in 2079. Former MP Kisan Shrestha, who joined the S, returned to the UML a few months ago. He has filed his candidacy this time from Bara-4, where he was elected in 2079.

The Congress has repeated Bhattarai as a candidate. It is estimated that the Joshi group, dissatisfied with the Congress, has around 5,000 votes in Tanahun-1. The UML has put forward former Federal Affairs Minister Neupane. She was defeated for the mayor of Bhanu Municipality in 2074. Within two years of her defeat as mayor, she was elected as a member of the National Assembly by getting a ticket from the UML. She was a minister until before the Gen-G movement.

The RSVP party is claiming that voters will trust Wagle because he is the proposed Finance Minister from the party and a national figure. Another candidate, Bhattarai, is trying to garner sympathy votes in the old Congress stronghold. UML's Neupane and NCP's Dhakal are trying to secure their traditional votes and attract more votes. 

Wagle, who is also the former vice-chairman of the National Planning Commission, claims that the election atmosphere is in favor of the RSVP across the country and that he will win easily. 'I have just started meeting voters. The people of Tanahun are very optimistic about us,' he says, 'I am excited. The votes are a little different than before, but the situation is not challenging.' 

Wagle is preparing to campaign in all 42 wards in Tanahun-1. He claimed that the locals are seeking improvements in the roads, drinking water, education, and health sectors along with good governance, and that only the RSVP can fulfill them. Economist Wagle had left the Congress in Chaitra 2079 and joined the RSVP. He came to Tanahun to contest the elections from Bunkot, Gorkha. 

Congress candidate Bhattarai says that the voters' perceptions and expectations have changed since the by-elections of 2080. 'I am with the voters even if I lose the election. I will be with them even if I win. There are also many voters who say that mistakes were made yesterday,' he says, 'Yesterday's new ones have become old after being tested. New ones have come. People's expectations were not fulfilled. This time the results will be good for the Congress.'

Bhattarai claims that he will win if the votes are distributed everywhere as there is no alliance between the parties. He was from Beas Milantar and established himself in Congress politics as the president of the Nepali Sangh in 2054. UML candidate Neupane is busy with party committee meetings and meeting voters in the constituency. 'It is a place where I have been working hard since yesterday. I am confident that those who know the soil here and have deep love will get the warm support and cooperation of the voters,' she said.

CPN candidate Dhakal says that he is enthusiastic as the party meetings up to the municipal and ward levels are coming to an end. 'There is a lot of dissatisfaction with other parties and candidates. We have faith, we have expectations. The voters of Tanahun-1 will vote for the NCP this time,' he says.

Independent candidate Joshi claims that he will win the competition between the new and old parties. 'People are not happy with the old parties. The new parties are also the same. They have become more populist,' he says, 'Earlier, Swarnim won by getting the votes of all of us, the Congress, the UML and the Maoists. Now, not everyone is in a position to vote for him.'

Joshi was the candidate for the mayor of Byas Municipality with the support of the UML in the 2079 local level elections. Joshi, who was elected by the Congress's Vaikuntha Neupane with 12,078 votes, received 11,826 votes. His writ petition demanding a recount is pending in the Supreme Court.

While descending from Bandipur Bazaar towards South Ramkot, the Kantipur team met Chandrika BK at a house by the roadside. When discussing the election, BK expressed dissatisfaction with the elected leaders from Tanahun-1. ‘There are no facilities in the village. The cost of living has increased,’ BK said, ‘Our children have to go abroad. When you look at the leaders, everything seems good. No one does good things.’ BK says that she decides who to vote for by listening to the leaders who come to her door. Her neighbor, Jenisa BK, says that she will vote for a candidate who can provide employment to the locals and help in development. 

Homestay operator in Ramkot, Bandipur Khadga Bahadur Thapa says that the new party is uncomfortable with the old parties. ‘Earlier, there were only Congress, UML and Maoists. Now, the influence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanskriti Party is also increasing,’ he said, ‘Now, it seems that the youth are also starting to be active in the Bright Nepal and Labor Culture Party.’

Local Bhuntimaya Magar says that she will vote for a leader who can take care of the people’s welfare. ‘So far, the winners have not given anything except old age allowance,’ said the 72-year-old, ‘Electricity has arrived. Even though water tanks and taps have been installed in the settlements, there is no water supply.’

Devghat, which is connected to Chitwan, and 12 wards of Aanbukhairani Rural Municipality, Bandipur, Bhanu Municipality and the district headquarters, Byas Municipality, fall under Tanahun-1. There are 136,882 voters in this area.