Morang area no. 5 also includes wards 17 and 18 of Biratnagar Metropolitan City. These wards are connected to the Indian border area. These wards are especially connected to Jogbani in Bihar.

These border wards are far behind other wards in terms of development. There is extreme unemployment here. Most of the people in this area, which is dominated by the Muslim community, do not have a basis for livelihood. ‘The government neither provides employment nor easy facilities for commuting,’ local Mo Aktar Alam laments, ‘Who would want to do this miserable work if they got employment!’

He said that he would vote only for the party and leader who guarantees employment in the upcoming elections. Rubbing his beard, he added, ‘I will vote for whoever provides work.’

According to the ward office, there are about 2,600 Muslim households in ward number 17. The population is about 25,000. According to ward chairman Samim Qamar Mian, most of the households are on unregistered land. ‘Most of them do not have property documents,’ says ward chairman Mian, ‘Many have yet to become citizens.’

The locals here make a living by bringing goods from India. ‘It is difficult to make ends meet without going abroad,’ says local youth Sarfaraz Mian, ‘This is the only employment for most of the people here.’

Some of the youth are in foreign employment. Some are working in jute mills. Some are spending the money they get from going abroad on drug addiction. Most of the youth under the age of 20 are trapped in the swamp of drug addiction, said local 68-year-old Zarina Khatun. She added, 'You can reach India in two minutes, and they buy and consume marijuana and hashish from there.'

Intense competition in Morang-5

This constituency is not at the peak of discussion like Jhapa-5. But it is famous. Yogendra Mandal, who won as an independent in 2079, is in the fray with his party. This time, all the parties are competing alone. The question on the mind of all voters is who will win.

Mandal has become the candidate from the National Energetic Party this time. Manoj Kumar Agrawal from the CPN-UML, Phool Kumar Lalwani from the Nepali Congress, Shiva Kumar Mandal from the Nepali Communist Party, Rajkumar Yadav from the Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal, and Naresh Kumar Labh from the Rastriya Mukti Party Nepal are the candidates.

Similarly, Gangakumari Rajbanshi from the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, Asha Jha from the National Independent Party, Kumod Raya from the National Democracy Party, Parameshwara Murmu from the Janmat Party, Rajendra Prasad Mandal from the Progressive Democratic Party and Shakuntala Shrestha from the Mongol National Organization are candidates .

Similarly, Mangal Rishidev from the Federal Democratic National Forum, Ganga Prasad Giri from the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) are in the fray .

22 candidates, including Jayanarayan Sharma, Suryanarayan Thakur, Mamta Yadav, Mohammad Reza Hussain and Bikash Shrestha, are in the fray as independent candidates in this area . 

Last time, there were two alliances in Morang 5 . UML-JSP and Maoist-Congress-Unified Socialist . However, independent candidate Mandal won, beating both of those alliances .  He won by securing 21,820 votes, while Maoist's Shiva Kumar Mandal came in second with 17,486 votes.

Phool Kumar, who became a candidate from the Congress, is a long-time Congress leader from this region. Maoist's Shiva Kumar Mandal is a leader who has won from this region before. It is estimated that caste votes could be the basis for victory in this Madhesh-dominated region. 'It is difficult to say who will take advantage of that,' said a Congress leader.