There are 15 candidates in the fray from Bardiya-2 in the upcoming House of Representatives elections. This time, new and old faces have appeared in the election field. Kishore Singh Rathore has got the ticket from the Nepali Congress. He was elected from Banke-3 in 2079.

Former Congress joint general secretary Rathore won the election with 29,040 votes. Close competitor Kismat Kumar Kakshapati of UML got 24,247 votes.

Rathore, who was opposing party president Gagan Thapa, got a ticket from Bardiya-2 at the last minute. After Thapa was elected as the president of the Congress special general convention, Rathore of the Sher Bahadur Deuba faction also reached the Election Commission to oppose him. 

Rathore became the president of the Nepali Sangh in 059 BS, a central member of the Congress in the 12th general convention, and a joint general secretary in the 14th general convention. Rathore was narrowly defeated by Maoist candidate Man Bahadur Chaudhary in the 064 BS Constituent Assembly election in Bardiya-2.

Rathore claims that he set up the Karnali River Management Office on his own initiative. ‘I have taken the initiative in the construction of the Gularia-Rajapur road section, and there is a plan to make it 4-lane,’ he said, ‘I have put forward election issues including agricultural modernization, embankment, reduction of human-wildlife conflict, employment, industrialization.’

Former minister Bimala BK is contesting the election from the UML in this area. She became a member of the UML district committee in 2065 and became the Minister of State for Industry, Commerce and Supplies in 2077. At that time, she was an MP from the proportional representation party. 

She said that she has put forward the issue of solving the problem of wildlife and modernization in agriculture as election issues. ‘I have put the issue of increasing compensation for farmers who have suffered losses from wildlife by amending the Forest Act, and shifting settlements at risk from wildlife to safe places by providing compensation,’ she said. 

Similarly, Suresh Pantha is contesting the election from the NCP. He contested the election in 2079 and was defeated. Lalbir Chaudhary from the Nagarik Unmukti Party defeated Pantha. Lalbir is the father of Resham Chaudhary, the chairman of the Nagarik Unmukti Party (Nepal). Lalbir won by getting 26,520 votes, while his opponent Pantha got 26,384 votes. 

Pantha claimed that if he is elected in the upcoming election, he will solve the problem of wildlife. ‘I will build a concrete wall to keep the problematic wildlife in the Bardiya National Park within the open zoo area,’ he said. ‘This will reduce human-wildlife conflict and increase the source of income when more and more tourists come to visit the zoo.’

Dharma Bahadur Chaudhary from the Ujjaya Nepal Party and Shreedhar Poudel from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are in the fray. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh candidate Poudel said that his election issues are development, promotion of ecotourism, reduction of human-wildlife conflict, control of corruption, and maintenance of good governance. Poudel's political journey began in 2046 BS from the Congress. He is a tourism businessman by profession. Poudel left the Congress in 2079 BS and joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). This is his first parliamentary contest.

Chaudhary of the Ujjaya Nepal Party is a professor by profession. He had earlier defeated Man Bahadur Chaudhary of the Congress-Maoist alliance for the provincial assembly seat from the Civil Liberation Party by more than 10,000 votes.  

He was the Minister of Physical Transport from Lumbini Province. He joined the Ujjaya Party after falling out with the party's chairman Resham Lal Chaudhary. He said that when he was a minister, he built roads, bridges, and police stations in Rajapur Municipality, Geruwa Rural Municipality and other municipalities. 'I am at the doorsteps of the people to solve problems such as river control and human-wildlife conflict in the upcoming elections,' he said.

Khushi Ram Tharu is a candidate from the Civil Liberation Party, Nepal in the upcoming elections. This is Khushi Ram's first parliamentary contest. He said that the party's election issue is 'identity on geographical and cultural grounds'. "Although there are many issues, the goal is to solve problems such as reducing human-wildlife conflict, farmers' problems, roads, bridges and other problems on a local basis," he said. 

In the 2074 elections, the then Maoist Sant Kumar Tharu won in this area by getting 50,555 votes. His nearest competitor, Gopal Dahit of the Nepali Congress, got 36,700 votes. There are 155,232 voters in Bardiya-2.

Always afraid of wild animals, no security 

Sant Bahadur Shahi of Dhanaura, Madhuban Municipality-3, Bardiya has turned 70. Even at this age, he is forced to stay up all night. ‘We are afraid that tigers and leopards will come and attack us at home, what should we do?’ he said, ‘No one comes to listen to our pain, during elections, there are crowds of people who lure us with various slogans.’

A 55-year-old woman from the same ward, Tula, expresses her sorrow at having to live in fear and terror. ‘Elephants come from across India and destroy our houses,’ she said, ‘The fear of tigers and leopards is the same, they take away goats and sheep from the cage, it is difficult for people to escape.’ Therefore, she insisted that she would not vote for those who always make her a vote bank this time unless they do not work to stop the attacks of wild animals. 

According to her, the land she is currently living on is public. ‘We live on uninhabited land, about 500 meters from the Nepal-India border,’ she says. ‘We tell candidates in every election to build an electric fence at the border to prevent elephants, tigers, and leopards from entering, but they never do it.’ There is a forest near the settlement. Wild animals come to Nepal from the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in India.

Laxmi Tharu, 29, from the same ward, says that she eats and sleeps before 7 pm in the winter due to fear of wild animals. ‘The tiger comes to the courtyard after dark, and it is not possible to go out to the toilet at night,’ she said, expressing her pain. ‘We only go out when it is light.’ She also expressed her anger at leaders who only come during elections. ‘Everyone forgets when they go to the government after seeking votes in elections,’ she says. ‘This time, they don’t even feel like voting, they understand their pain, so vote.’ 

52-year-old Rupa Khanal of Bhagaraiya complained that they have been facing attacks by elephants, tigers and leopards for years. Locals say that there are more problems in wards 3, 4 and 5 of Madhuvan. Local Ashish Chand, a 23-year-old youth, says that 50 houses are at risk. Roshni Chaudhary of the same village is also suffering the same. She studies in grade 8 at Nepal National Secondary School. ‘The school is 2 km away, we go to study tuition at 5 am, but when we go like this, we are always afraid of tigers and leopards,’ she says. Most of the locals in this area demand that they be protected from wild animals. They have demanded that alternative housing be arranged in a safe place. They have also demanded electric fences and street lights. 52-year-old Rupa Khanal of Bhagaraiya in the same ward complained that they have been facing attacks by elephants, tigers and leopards for years. ‘On 15 Bhadra 078 at 11 am, a tiger dragged 13-year-old Bhada Vishal Oli, who was returning from Kothiyaghat with his belongings, into the forest. We searched for him a lot but could not find him,’ she said with tears in her eyes. ‘Three days later, his clothes were found in the forest. We found out that the tiger had eaten from those clothes.’ She expressed her pain that the most problems were in protecting children in this area. 

Ramesh Thapa, former chief conservation officer of Bardiya National Park, says that human losses due to wild animal attacks are more outside the buffer zone. ‘Most of the human losses are due to leopard attacks, because in some places in the park, buffer zone and corridor, tigers have stayed there because the food species are good,’ he said. ‘Due to the fear of tigers, leopards have moved far away. As they moved far away, leopards also needed food, which is why they first started feeding dogs. There are also fewer monkeys in the Bardiya area.’ 

That is why leopards that have reached the inner settlements have started attacking people, he says. ‘A lot of damage has been caused by leopards, but people are calling leopards tigers,’ he said, ‘Some wards of Madhuban Municipality fall within the area affected by both Nepal and India.’ He said that the area is connected to Bardiya National Park and Madhyaprasthan on the Nepal side.