The excitement for the upcoming House of Representatives elections is slowly building. The election has been stuck like a frozen snowball as some voters here are out of the district and the election has not picked up the expected momentum.

Although previous local level elections and federal and provincial elections were usually held in the months of Baisakh/Jesh and Kartik/Mangsir, this year the election of the House of Representatives has been announced for Falgun 21 in the special circumstances after the Gen-G movement. 

It is a tradition for most of the citizens here to go down to the valley in the month of Kartik/Mangsir to escape the winter and go up again when the summer starts in the month of Chait/Baisakh. Due to this, even though the election is not favorable for the district at this time, the responsibility of making the declared election successful lies on the shoulders of the concerned bodies.

Some of the voters here have temporarily settled in places including Pokhara and Kathmandu.  In Mustang, it is an ancestral tradition and culture to go down to the valley to escape the winter every year during the winter. As most of the citizens of Mustang have gone down to the valley to escape the winter, the election activities of the parties here have decreased. Lopsang Chomphel Bista, chairman of Loghekar Damodarkunda Rural Municipality, informed that 80 percent of voters of Lomanthang and Loghekar Damodarkunda Rural Municipality under the Nepal-China border rural municipality in the district have descended to the valley to escape the winter before the month of Mangsir. 

Chairman Bista said that the election excitement in the district has not heated up as voters are still in the valley even though the upcoming election is approaching. At this time, not only voters from Upper Mustang but also more than 50 percent of voters from Lower Mustang have descended to the valley to escape the winter. Voters from the lower areas have descended to the valley after completing the tourist 'off-season' and some farmers have completed the management of their apple orchards.

Although candidates of various political parties filed their nomination papers for the upcoming election two weeks ago, the activities including election campaigning of candidates and political parties are slow. Due to the decrease in the number of voters in the district, candidates of political parties have descended to the valley to seek voters. However, even though there are no local voters and political party candidates here, the local administration, the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer and the District Election Office are preparing for their internal elections, informed District Election Officer Lokendra Gyawali. According to him, the security agencies have taken forward the management and training of the election police for election security, and the district-based security committee is continuously monitoring the polling stations and polling stations.

Representatives of political parties and candidates say that it is difficult to get voters to return to the district on the election date as most of the voters in the district are currently in places including Pokhara and Kathmandu. Despite the election schedule, some voters in the district are not ready to return to the district during the election.

As the cold weather persists in Mustang even in the month of Falgun, the voters here are planning to return to the district only in the month of Baisakh. Nepali Congress candidate Yogesh Gauchan informed that he and his side have not started the election campaigning work. He said that since the voters from the Himalayas are in the valley, they have been meeting voters normally.

'It is deserted in Mustang, all the voters are in the valley,' he said, 'The election campaign in the district will not start until the voters return to the district, so I will probably return to the district only after Falgun.' 

Another candidate from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Aditya Chandra Thakali has also gone to the valley to meet the voters of the district. He said that since the voters are outside the district, they are meeting them in the valley. 'It is difficult to find out where the voters live, but we have tried to reach the voters' places by contacting them by phone,' he said, 'We are working to inform the voters about the current problems of the district and the party's agenda and to solicit votes.'

It is time to take the initiative to solve the problems and challenges of the district, and to present the policies, programs and manifesto agenda of the candidates and the party to the people in the villages here, but there is a problem in the election campaign as some voters are outside the district, says UML candidate Indradhara Dhadu Bista. He complains that he has to go around looking for who lives in the valley and where the voters of the district live. 

NCP candidate Ngutuk Gurung said that he has reached Kathmandu for the election campaign in the district. Since there are no voters in the district, he says that he is working to meet the voters of the district and ask for votes by staying in the valley. 'If we go to the district and campaign for the election, there is no one there, instead, I am appealing for votes by searching for social houses and places where Mustangs live here,' he said. 'After Falgun, voters will gradually start returning to the district, after which I will return to the district and campaign for the election.'