This is the third consecutive time that the central members of the country's two largest parties are competing in the district. Arjun Prasad Joshi of the Nepali Congress and Padam Giri of the UML have emerged as the main contenders in Parbat this time too.

The competition between Joshi, who has suffered defeats twice, and Giri, who has entered the field with the goal of making a hat-trick of victories, is expected to be interesting. These two are being challenged by Nepali Communist Party central member Manahari Timalsina and Rastriya Swatantra Party candidate Sagar Bhusal.

UML's Giri has claimed to win this time too. During the registration of candidacy on Magh 20, he said, 'I do not consider a victory with a margin of less than four thousand votes as a victory.' Candidates from other parties have taken his confidence as arrogance. Candidates in the district have intensified their door-to-door campaign. Congress' Joshi started his campaign from Kushma-10, Pipaltari on Wednesday. He started his campaign after taking blessings from 81-year-old Guma Devi, wife of Ganesh Sharma Poudel, founder of the communist movement in the district.

Joshi is asking for votes saying 'this time is the last time'. He has been facing criticism from within the Congress for repeatedly becoming a candidate and has also announced that he will not contest the upcoming elections. Joshi, who is in the Sher Bahadur Deuba group, had come out in favor of President Gagan Thapa at the special general convention.

Claiming that he had done significant work in physical infrastructure including roads, drinking water, electricity and buildings while being a member of the Constituent Assembly twice and once in the House of Representatives, Joshi said, ‘I regret not being able to directly participate in the joys and sorrows of the people. I am not the old Arjun Joshi, I have come changed. Give me one last chance.’

Joshi was elected as a member of the House of Representatives from Parbat-1 in 2056 BS. He also won consecutively in the Constituent Assembly elections of 2064 and 2070 BS. In the 2074 and 2079 BS elections, he was defeated by Giri of the UML. A member of the Congress since 2034 BS, he led the party as the District President for 16 years from 2048 BS.

UML candidate Giri has been claiming to win the election by a wide margin this time too. He said that he has no chance of losing as he has done significant work in the development of the district as an MP for eight years and a minister for a few months. ‘It is enough to compare the mountains of 10 years ago and now,’ he said, ‘We have brought development to every village that can be seen with the naked eye.’

He has succeeded in influencing senior leaders within the party at a young age. Former National Assembly Speaker Ganesh Timilsina and Constituent Assembly member and former provincial minister Bikash Lamsal now seem inactive in politics. Giri, who became the party’s district president 15 years ago, has achieved continuous success in politics since then. He has been an MP, minister, chief whip and central member twice. Giri’s political journey officially began in 2062 BS when he became the president of the Independent University of Prithvi Narayan Campus.

In the 2074 election, Giri defeated Joshi by a margin of 12,456 votes. While Giri got 39,275 votes, Joshi got 26,819 votes. At that time, there was a UML-Maoist alliance. Giri defeated Joshi in the 2079 election. While Giri got 29,872 votes, Joshi got 27,609 votes.

The craze for NCP and RSVP candidates has also increased dramatically in the district. Timilsina of the NCP is known as a young and intellectual candidate. Timilsina, who participated in the then Maoist war, was in the custody of the Nepali Army from 2058 to 2059. He served as the press advisor to the then Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal from 2072 to 2073.

He, who has been active in journalism and writing for a long time, claimed that he has already contributed to the development of the district. Timilsina, who has direct access to Prime Minister Dahal, says that voters who vote for him will never regret it. ‘I will not look at anyone through the prism of political bias,’ he said, ‘A team of one hundred experts under my leadership has prepared a detailed roadmap for the overall development of the mountain.’

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has nominated Bhusal as its candidate. Bhusal, who returned from Israel after a long stay, is now running a hotel business in Pokhara. Bhusal, who comes from a former Congress background, is also the RSSS district secretary. Bhusal claims that his victory is assured as the demand for change is strong. "For 36 years, when the old parties ruled the state, nothing happened except chaos and corruption," he said. "I am confident that the voters will choose me as all the parties have been tested." He has also expressed his commitment that if the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) does not form a government and work in the public interest, he will not seek votes from the people again.