Campaigning for the House of Representatives elections to be held on Falgun 21 in Rupandehi, which has five constituencies, has begun. There are all kinds of candidates, old and new, from old and new parties. Old candidates are misleading voters. New candidates are presenting their identity and claiming to differentiate themselves among voters.

Election activity is increasing in all five constituencies of Rupandehi. However, there is no enthusiasm and excitement like before. While the old candidates seem to be under pressure due to the changed situation, the new ones are making strategies by observing the activities of the old ones and understanding the mood of the voters. There is no wave of voters joining parties like in the previous elections. Instead, there is a trend of candidates changing parties. Even as the election time approaches, there is no excitement in the city. The villages are even more deserted.

The election activity in Rupandehi-1 is a bit different compared to other areas. Some of the candidates are new and some are old. However, there are no previous winners. Many candidates seem decent and calm. None of the candidates have campaigned aggressively so far. Duryodhan Singh Tharu of the Nepali Congress won the elections here continuously from 2048 to 2056. In 2064, Ghanshyam Yadav, who joined the Maoists from the UML, won. Abdul Razzaq of the Congress and Chhabilal Bishwakarma of the UML were defeated. In 2070, there was a competition between Bishwakarma of the UML and Razzaq of the Congress. Razzaq of the Congress won. In 2074, Bishwakarma of the UML won again in the competition between the two. In 2079, Bishwakarma of the UML defeated Ghanshyam Bhusal, an independent candidate supported by the Congress-Maoist alliance.

However, the current situation has changed. Tharu of the Congress, who had won three consecutive times since 2048, has passed away. Razzaq of the Congress and Bishwakarma of the UML, who won after that, have left the field. Along with Yadav, who was then a Maoist and now a CPN (Maoist) candidate who won the Constituent Assembly in 2064, Dadhiram Neupane of the UML, Hira Bahadur Khatri of the Congress, and Sunil Lamsal of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have entered the field. Khatri of Congress is the former mayor of Devdaha Municipality, Neupane of UML is a former provincial assembly member and Lamsal of RSP is the general secretary of the party. The CPN (United) has fielded Ramchandra Bhattarai as its candidate. Prajwal Bohara is the candidate from RPP. He is the son of RPP leader Deepak Bohara.

In the 2079 elections, UML Central Secretary Chhabilal Bishwakarma won from here by getting 24,882 votes. His opponent was Ghanshyam Bhusal, an independent candidate from the alliance including Congress and Maoists. He got 21,318 votes. Similarly, Naresh Bahadur Pachai Chhetri of RSP got 14,145 votes and Dhaniram Chaudhary of Civil Liberties Union got 13,962 votes. In the 2079 proportional elections, the Congress received 19,125 votes, the UML 15,724 votes, the RPP 11,243 votes, the RSVP 15,800 votes, and the Maoist Center 3,073 votes.

There are 146,824 voters in this constituency, including 73,854 males, and 31 candidates, including 20 independents. There are 45 polling stations and 159 polling stations. Along with the old parties, the newly opened Ujjaya Nepal and the Aam Janata Party and the NEMKIPA have filed their candidacies from here. Hari Bahadur Kunwar, who is also a local social worker, said that now the candidates of all the new parties, including the candidates of the old parties, are seeking votes in a calm and dignified manner.

‘So far, no candidate has campaigned in a flashy and aggressive manner, everything is on social media,’ he said, ‘even if there are no meetings, conferences and miking, the election is going smoothly.’ He said that even though many candidates have prioritized door-to-door campaigns, voters are still confused.

Many voters are currently silent. Voters are watching the activities of the new ones and reminding the old ones of their previous commitments. That is why the villages are now deserted, said Laxmi Devi BK, who is also a ward member of Devdaha Municipality-1. ‘All party candidates seem very disciplined,’ she said, ‘We are understanding who is who, and then we will finally choose.’ The southern area of ​​Devdaha and the eastern southern area of ​​the entire constituency are areas with poor people and a high voter turnout of the Madhesi community. Most parties try to influence the voters of those areas in every election.

Former mayor Khatri of Congress is a leader who has been at the grassroots level since he was elected to the provincial assembly. He is familiar with the area along with Devdaha Municipality, so he is in the fray claiming that he will not face any difficulty in winning. UML's Neupane is also appealing to voters with a list of the work he did when he was elected to the provincial assembly. Ward member BK said that both these leaders are decent leaders in that area.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has fielded Engineer Sunil Lamsal, who is working as an advisor in the secretariat of former mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Balendra Shah. He is from Tilottama Municipality-7. The RSS is trying to take advantage of the current changed equation by protecting the votes it received in the previous election. 'Political change does not only mean changing the structure, but also improving the way of decision-making,' he said. 'Reliable governance is possible only through the practice of respecting the law, following the process and keeping the public interest at the center.' This is my main responsibility.'