As election day approaches, the electoral competition in Kailali Constituency No. 5, the temporary capital of the Far West and the main commercial center of the region, Dhangadhi region, is becoming increasingly complicated.

In this region where most of the candidates of the parties are facing each other for the first time, the candidates of the Congress, UML, NCP and RSP are claiming to win, but they are seen under pressure from each other internally.

Most of the parties have fielded new candidates for the upcoming elections. Narnarayan Shah (Manu), who was fielded by the Congress, has become a candidate for the first time in the parliamentary elections. Yagyaraj Dhungana, who was fielded by the UML, is also in the field for the first time in the parliamentary competition. On the other hand, Prem Ale Magar, who was elected from Doti three times in a row, has left Doti and chosen Dhangadhi as the competition ground for the first time. He has been fielded by the Nepali Communist Party. There is also a new face from the Rastriya Swatantra Party. Ananda Bahadur Chand, who was previously a professor, is the candidate of the RSP. Many expect an interesting competition between the candidates of these four parties in Kailali 5. RPP has fielded Roshan Shahi. Pyarelal Rana, who has filed an independent candidacy, also has his own claim.

The election results of Dhangadhi constituency have been different after every election. That is, no party has won two consecutive elections. In the nine parliamentary elections (including by-elections) held in this constituency since 2015, Nepali Congress has won six times and left-wing candidates have won three times. Left-wing candidates won in the mid-term elections of 2012, the constitutional elections of 2017, and 2019. In the other elections, Congress candidates won in 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Lokendra Bahadur Shah of the Congress in 015, Tek Bahadur Chokhyal of the Congress in 048, Maheshwor Pathak of the UML in 051, Tek Bahadur Chokhyal of the Congress in 056, Lila Bhandari of the Maoists in 064, Sher Bahadur Deuba of the 70s, Pushkarnath Ojha of the Congress in 071 by-elections, Naradmuni Rana of the UML in 074 and Dilliraj Pant of the Congress in 079 were victorious.

The election field of Dhangadhi in the upcoming elections is the first time for most candidates. Locals understand that the candidates of the UML, Congress and NCP, who are in organizational strength, are being given a tough challenge by the candidates of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), whose organization has not yet spread.

The legacy of the political family and the organizational base of the party have given the main advantage to the Congress candidate Nar Narayan Shah (Manu). He is the grandson of Lokendra Bahadur Shah, who was elected from the Congress in the 2015 general election, and the son of Mohan Bahadur Shah, the president of the JBS Kailali in 2049. Continuing the legacy of the same political family, Shah, 58, has also been an active leader in the politics of the Congress Kailali for a long time. He entered the competition of parliamentary politics for the first time and has studied for a bachelor's degree from Lucknow University in India. Shah has the experience of being the president of Tarun Dal Kailali, the joint secretary of the Congress Kailali and the president twice.

Shah, who has been involved in various social works, has been active in the Nepal Bharat Maitri Sangh Kailali, Nepal Red Cross Society, Industry and Commerce Association, Amnesty International, Kailali Public Library, Dhangadhi JSIS, and sports committees in the past. However, the internal strife within the Congress and the fact that Pyarelal Rana, a former member of the Constituent Assembly, was running as an independent candidate are challenges for Shah.

He says that his main agenda is to improve the living standards of citizens below the poverty line and prevent youth from migrating abroad. Shah has made public his election commitments, including upgrading Dhangadhi Sub-metropolitan City to a metropolitan city, distributing land deeds to landless and squatters, establishing a modern information technology park, providing skill-based training to create employment for youth in the country, operating the Shaheed Dashrath Chand National Health Sciences University at full capacity and starting medical education, developing Dhangadhi Stadium as a modern stadium, and arranging specialist doctors in the city health center.

Another competing UML candidate, 46-year-old Yagyaraj Dhungana, is a leader leading the CPN-UML as the district president of Kailali. He is also a character connected to the social sector as the operator of Navajivan Hospital in Dhangadhi. Dhungana, who is contesting the parliamentary elections for the first time, is active in party politics through student politics. He studied economics up to the bachelor's level from Kailali Multiple Campus and was elected as the president of ANNFSU Kailali in 2057 BS, a central member of ANNFSU in 2063 BS, and the president of the Independent Students' Union of Kailali Multiple Campus in the same year. The main challenge facing Dhungana, a candidate from Kailali UML who is caught up in the internal politics of the Gutaigut, is to unite the dissatisfied parties within the party and gather votes in the election field.

Dhungana has prioritized expanding the scope of startup loans, providing employment to at least five thousand people in five years through the 'One Youth, One Job' campaign, upgrading Dhangadhi Sub-metropolitan City to a metropolitan city, expanding internet and IT services at the ward level, digital infrastructure in the education and health sectors, effective health insurance, bringing Seti Provincial Hospital under the federal government, operating MBBS studies in Geta, creating employment in the country through industrialization, modernization in agriculture, roads, drinking water, playgrounds, and urban development as election agendas.

Ananda Bahadur Chand is in the fray from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Chand, who taught at the Patan Multiple Campus under Tribhuvan University for 17 years, has left his teaching career and entered politics. Chand, who has a master's degree in organic chemistry and a doctorate in collaboration with North Carolina A&T State University in the US, is a candidate who is not part of the RSSS organization, but is benefiting from the spontaneous wave of 'Ghanti' within the party and the attraction and trust shown among the youth.

Chand, who has represented Nepal in international forums from Ireland to the Netherlands, South Africa to the UK, Mexico and Indonesia on non-communicable diseases, is the chairman of Nepal Food Corporation and the executive director of the BP Koirala Memorial Planetarium Observatory and Science Museum Development Board. Although Chand, 50, is an active researcher in the fields of education and health, some believe that being a new face for the voters of Dhangadhi is his biggest challenge as he has lived outside Dhangadhi for a long time. But saying that there is a wave of change, Chand says that he has no doubts about winning the election.

He believes that 'right policies' are the main basis for the country's development rather than false assurances, ambitious declarations and slogans by candidates to seek votes. 'The main need now is to end the chaos in state institutions.' That will be my priority as a people's representative,' said Chand. 'Infrastructure development, corruption control and good governance are my first priorities.'

Prem Bahadur Ale, 54, a candidate of the Nepali Communist Party, is a seasoned player in parliamentary politics. Ale, who was elected as a member of the then Doti District Development Committee (DDC) in 2054 BS, was elected to the House of Representatives from Doti three times in a row, including in 2079.

How easy will it be for Ale, who has chosen the electoral geography of the Terai for the first time? He has chosen this area, where the party has a relatively weak organizational base and the pressure to attract the Ranatharu community and urban votes of Kailali 5, has paved a challenging path. It seems that he has made the votes of the voters who have migrated from Doti, the votes of the tribals and past electoral experience his main weapons.

Ale is a leader who has been in many discussions and controversies while in office due to his unstable political character and unbridled speech. Recently, he was also inactive in the affiliated Unified Socialist Party. He was not active even during the unification with the Maoist Center. But from the same NCP, he defeated other ticket aspirants by bringing a fat ticket.

In 2077, when the then Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli dissolved the parliament, he initially stood in favor of the dissolution and became the Minister of Forests. However, when the parliament was dissolved for the second time, he changed sides and stood in favor of Madhav Nepal and became the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation. During both his ministerial terms, he was in the news for many issues. When he was the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, whether it was the Narayanhiti Palace Museum case, the Pashupati Dharamshala case, the casino case or the audio case with obscene abuse of the Executive Chairman of Nepal Airlines Corporation, he was in the news in a positive and critical manner.

He has taken his competition in the upcoming elections as a litmus test. If he wins Kailali 5, it seems that he can become a strong leader in the far west. However, if he is defeated, his undefeated parliamentary journey will be interrupted for the time being.

He is also presenting the election agenda in a realistic manner. He claims to make a leap in the development of Dhangadhi. He is vigorously promoting the upgrading of Dhangadhi Airport, the construction of FAPLA International Cricket Stadium, Geta Medical College, and the upgrading of Seti Provincial Hospital among the voters.

There are 110,539 voters in Kailali constituency number 5 for the upcoming elections. In the 2079 election, the Congress candidate won this constituency directly. In the proportional representation, the Congress received 15,117 votes, the UML 14,321, the Maoist Center 5,736, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh 4,455, and the Unified Socialist Party 916 votes. The RPP is also present in this constituency. In the last election, the RPP had secured 6,947 votes in the proportional representation.

In the 2079 local level election, independent candidate Gopal Hamal had won in Dhangadhi Sub-metropolitan City in Constituency No. 5. Kandakala Rana of the CPN (UML) had won the deputy mayor post.