AJP President Prabhu Sah's competitors are Ram Kripal Prasad Yadav of Congress, Kundan Prasad Kushwaha of UML, Punam Devi Yadav of CPN, Ravindra Patel of RSVP, Sheikh Pravez Alam of Janamat and Govind Chaudhary of Jaspa.
What you should know
Prabhu Sah, the president of the Aam Janata Party (AJP), is contesting the election for the fifth time in Rautahat-3. Sah, who has been winning elections from this constituency continuously since 2064, now faces the challenge of preserving his political legacy.
Despite getting a ticket from UML in the 2079 elections, Sah had filed an independent candidacy at the last minute, due to which there was no candidate from UML at that time. After Sah left UML, the then Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal instructed the party's candidate Rabindra Patel to withdraw. This meant that the Maoists also had support for Prabhu.
The Congress-Maoist electoral alliance had decided to support Sah. Rautahat-3 fell to the Maoists. Rabindra contested the elections by rejecting the instructions of the party high command. However, Sah won by getting 32,437 votes. Another independent candidate, Omprakash Jaiswal, got 25,200 votes. Rabindra of the Maoists got 8,500 votes. After winning the elections, Sah formed AJP.
Govinda Chaudhary of Congress won the elections in 2048, Harihar Yadav of Congress in 2051, and Dr. Banshidhar Mishra of UML in 2056. Sah has been 'dominant' in the subsequent elections. In the 2064 Constituent Assembly elections, Maoist candidate Sah won by getting 11,625 votes. His opponent Ramkoshori Yadav of Madhesi Janadhikar Forum got 10,896 votes.
In the second Constituent Assembly elections in 2070, Maoist candidate Sah won by getting 13,900 votes. Even then, Sah defeated Yadav of the Forum. Yadav got 8,906 votes. In the 2074 elections, Maoist candidate Sah won by getting 27,799 votes. The nearest competitor was Sunil Yadav of the Nepali Congress with 18,206 votes.
This time, Sah's competitors in Rautahat-3 are Ramkripal Prasad Yadav of the Nepali Congress, Kundan Prasad Kushwaha of the Nepali Congress, Punamdevi Yadav of the Nepali Congress, Rabindra Patel of the Nepali Congress, Sheikh Pravez Alam of the Janamat Party, and Govinda Chaudhary of the Nepali Congress. 40 people have filed their candidacies, including them.
AJP President Sah has looked relatively weak in terms of the previous elections. His fellow travelers Kundan Kushwaha, Dheeraj Patel, Nagendra Yadav, Keshav Chaudhary and Ekramul have left the party. Sah, on the other hand, claims that he is with new people and says that he will win the election.
UML's Kundan, Congress's Ramkripal, and JSP's Govinda are strong candidates. JSP's Govinda is also an old leader in this area. He has been getting votes from Tharu-dominated areas alone. After Yadav, the Tharu community has a large presence in this area. Candidate Chaudhary says that he is committed to the development of the area.
Ramkripal, who is contesting elections for the first time from Congress, is a teacher. He claims that his hold on the Yadav-dominated area has strengthened. UML's Kundan has already become a provincial assembly member. NCP candidate Poonam is leading as a celebrity candidate. She is close to Indian artists as well as Bageshwordham Baba.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has fielded Rabindra, who contested the 2079 BS election from the Maoists, in this constituency. In the last election, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh candidate Naveen Chaurasia was at number five with 1,06 votes. Rabindra claims that no force will stop him from winning this time, as the new generation is looking for him and the voters have chosen him.
Former professor Yogendra Prasad Yadav says that the Rautahat-3 election will be competitive this time. ‘If the team with him breaks up or leaves, it will affect the vote difference,’ he said, ‘Elections give results under the guise of political influence as well as caste equations.’
AJP President Sah was elected ward president of the then Pataura VDC-1 from the UML in 2054 BS. While he was a people's representative, he joined the Maoist People's War. He was an MP in the interim parliament formed after the Maoists entered the peace process. After the Supreme Court rejected the UML-Maoist unity, he stayed with the UML. This is the reason why he lost his MP post.
Sah, who has been a minister several times and is considered an influential leader in Madhesh, has been facing various allegations from time to time. Legal troubles have also raised questions about Sah's image. On 26 Asho 2068, opposition parties including the Congress-UML had blocked the House, demanding the dismissal of Land Reforms and Administration Minister Sah, who was implicated in a murder case. Sah was accused of being the main planner of the murder of the then president of the World Hindu Youth Association, Kashinath Tiwari. The ruling party, the Maoists, tried to defend him at that time.
The opposition parties alleged that the District Attorney's Office was trying to acquit Sah, who was found guilty in the police investigation, without filing a case. He was also involved in the clash and murder incident in Gaur on 7 Chaitra 2063 between the Maoists and the Janadhikar Forum.
Despite this, Sah is going door to door this time with his latest agenda. He has tried to attract voters by raising his voice against interest rates of banks, financial institutions, customs revenue, and foreign employment fraud, and by advocating for the garbage workers who were evicted from the capital by the then mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, Balendra Shah (Balen). Rautahat-3 includes wards 5, 6, and 7 of Fatuwa Bijaypur, Katahariya, Gajura Municipality, and Garuda Municipality. Dewahi includes wards 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of Gonahi Municipality, and wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, and 9 of Maulapur Municipality. The Yadav community in this area is approximately 28,000. Muslims number 14,000 and Tharus 12,000.
His personal influence is more visible in these areas than his party affiliation. In the 2074 local level elections, Sah's wife Reena Kumari won the post of mayor of Maulapur Municipality from the then Maoists. In 2079, she won for the second time as a candidate from UML. Reena also won the election despite changing parties, so the influence of the Sah couple seems strong in this area. Maulapur Municipality has exempted locals from electricity and water taxes. Locals say that this will also have an impact on the current election.
The situation of education and health in Rautahat-3 is critical. Most of the schools in Gajura Municipality in this constituency do not have permanent teachers. Durga Basnet, a teacher at Janajyoti Primary School in Pokharbhinda, Gajura-4, said that due to the lack of desks and benches, students have to be taught on the floor.
Pujan Chaudhary of Gajura said that education and health are limited only to the speeches of leaders. AJP Chairman Sah, on the other hand, says that it is the government's responsibility to improve the quality of schools, physical infrastructure and problematic areas. 'I will bring the problems seen in the education sector to the government,' he said, 'It is the government's responsibility to solve the problem.'
Like other areas of Madhesh, the female literacy rate here is lower than that of men. Male literacy is 66.2 percent. Female literacy is 49.48 percent. Maulapur Municipality, where Saha lives, has a literacy rate of 56.38 percent. Dewahi Gonahi has 50 percent, Fatuwa Bijaypur has 60 percent, and Katahariya Municipality has 55 percent.
Despite access to health services, people still have to rely on outside cities for specialist services. Since tubewells are the main source of drinking water, questions have been raised about its quality. Last July, there was a water shortage in Maulapur Municipality in this area. People had to stand in line for water. The municipality had brought small borings into operation in most places.
A large part of the budget is spent on roads and physical infrastructure, but the main problem is that there is not enough investment in human development indicators like education and health, said UML candidate Kundan Kushwaha. 'It is not enough to build roads in the name of development,' he said. 'Prosperity can only be achieved if all sectors are developed.'
