Top leaders of the Congress, UML, the then Maoists, and the Unified Socialists, who participated in nationwide rallies in the previous elections, have this time been limited to campaigning in their respective constituencies.

Former Prime Ministers KP Sharma Oli, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Madhav Kumar Nepal and other leaders have neither organized large rallies this time, nor have they gone out across the country to seek votes for other candidates. Since there is no candidate, former Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has decided not to participate in the election campaign.

In the 2079 House of Representatives elections, UML Chairman Oli had started his election campaign from Darchula. He had started his campaign from Darchula, a district in the northern part of Nepal's map, with the slogan 'nationalist'. At that time, UML, which competed alone against the Congress, Maoists, and Unified Socialist Alliance, had the main election issue of protecting national independence and self-respect. In that election, Oli had addressed more than 40 election rallies. 

But this time, UML has not planned to hold large rallies for the election campaign. Chairman Oli is busy going door to door in his own constituency Jhapa-5. Former mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City and senior leader of the Nepali Congress Party Balendra Shah has been forced to limit himself to his own constituency after Oli filed his candidacy in his own constituency. As far as the situation is concerned, Oli, who came to Kathmandu on Thursday to publicize the party's manifesto, has already returned to Jhapa on Sunday. 

This time, Oli is listening to as many questions and complaints from voters as possible without making a speech. In the 2079 election, he had made speeches at every intersection and sought votes.

This time, Oli had gone to Jhapa to file his nomination on 5th Magh. After registering his nomination, he returned to Kathmandu on 9th Magh. After that, he went to Jhapa on 24th Magh and returned to Kathmandu on 29th. At that time, he had gone door-to-door in Gaurigunj, Gauradaha, and Kamal rural municipalities. He had answered the questions of the voters.

Oli, who went to Jhapa for the third time on 1st Falgun, returned to Kathmandu on 6th February and made the party manifesto public. He made 42 commitments public. He made commitments on issues including the nation, nationality, the development work he has done, and the view tower. On 6 February, he participated in the debate between the candidates of Jhapa-5. Congress candidate Mandhara Chimaria, RPP's Laxmi Prasad Sangraula, NCP's Ranjit Tamang, and CPN (Maoist Center) Sanjay Rai participated in the debate.

After registering his candidacy, Chairman Oli returned to Jhapa for the fourth time on Sunday for the election campaign. In the meantime, he has spent 15 days in his constituency. While in the election held on 4 Mangsir 2079, Oli had started the election campaign from 18 Kartik. He addressed meetings in Gothalapani of Baitadi, Siliguri, Dadeldhura, Mahendranagar, Dhangadhi and Lamki of Kailali, Birendranagar, Dailekh, Nepalgunj, Ghorahi and Tulsipur of Dang, Taulihawa, Butwal and Bhairahawa of Rupandehi. 

Similarly, rallies were held in Pokhara, Putalibazar in Syangja, Bharatpur in Chitwan, Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur, Damak, Biratnagar, Taplejung, Birtamod in Jhapa, Inaruwa and Itahari in Sunsari, Phidim, Janakpur and Birgunj in Panchthar. Of the places where Oli went on the election campaign, UML won one in Darchula, Baitadi, Kanchanpur, one in Dailekh, one in Banke, two in Kapilvastu, three in Rupandehi, three in Kaski, one in Lalitpur, one in Kathmandu, two in Dhanusha, one in Parsa, two in Sunsari, and three in Panchthar, Taplejung and Jhapa.

The situation of NCP coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal and co-coordinator Madhav Kumar Nepal is not much different from Oli. They are busy campaigning in their own constituencies. Dahal is a candidate from Rukum East, while Nepal is contesting the election in Rautahat-1. Since Dahal and Nepal are busy in their own constituencies, the NCP has decided not to hold large rallies. The NCP has decided that its leaders and candidates will focus on their constituencies.

Although Dahal does not face a big challenge in Rukum East, which has a strong base of former Maoists, he has not visited other districts for election programs. After registering his candidacy on 26th Magh, he has visited Rukum East and West twice. The last time he spent a week in Rukum campaigning, he returned to Kathmandu on Thursday. On 1 Falgun, he had addressed the People's War Day, visited the Lawang meeting place during the war, the place where the Mahat police post was captured, and visited the Martyrs' Park. Dahal has not even visited Chitwan-3, where his daughter Renu is a candidate. "Out of 31 wards in Rukum East, only two wards are left to be elected as chairpersons. He will go next time," said NCP leader Kamala Roka.

In the 2079 House of Representatives and Provincial Assembly elections, Dahal had visited more than 25 districts and addressed election rallies. He addressed the joint meetings of the Congress, Maoists, and Unified Socialists. He addressed Gorkha, Pokhara, Besisahar, Bharatpur and Madi in Chitwan, the grand meeting organized by the alliance in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Chautara in Sindhupalchowk, Nuwakot, Liwang in Rolpa, Ghorahi and Bhaluwang in Dang, Birendranagar in Surkhet, and Khalanga in Jumla.

Similarly, he addressed Dharan and Itahari in Sunsari, Diktel in Khotang, Bhojpur, Janakpurdham, and Rajbiraj in Saptari. He also addressed the meetings of Dhangadhi and Dadeldhura in Kailali. The districts that Dahal addressed at that time were Gorkha 1, Sindhupalchowk, Nuwakot 1, Rolpa, Dang 1, and Bhojpur, which were won by the Maoists. The then Maoists had fielded their candidates in 46 constituencies.

Similarly, NCP co-coordinator Nepal has filed his candidacy from Rautahat-1 this time too. Nepal, who came to Kathmandu twice for party meetings after registering his nomination on 6th Magh, is currently busy campaigning for his own constituency. In the 2079 elections, the then Nepal had addressed rallies in 20 districts. He had addressed rallies in his constituency Rautahat, Janakpurdham, Kalaiya in Bara, Rajbiraj in Saptari, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Hetauda, ​​Dhadingbesi, Itahari in Sunsari and Inaruwa, Ilam, Gaighat in Udayapur, Pokhara.

Similarly, Nepal had addressed election rallies in Butwal, Ghorahi in Dang, Birendranagar, Salyan Khalanga, Dhangadhi, Siliguri in Doti and Mangalsen in Achham. The Unified Socialist Party, which formed an alliance with the Congress and the Maoists, won 1 seat in Doti, Rautahat, 1 in Salyan and Dang, 1 in Bara and 1 in Dhading among the constituencies addressed by President Nepal in 2079 BS. The Unified Socialist Party fielded its candidates in only 20 constituencies in that election.

This time, former Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has decided not to campaign in any constituency. Deuba, who had previously contested the election from Dadeldhura, has not received a ticket this time. Deuba's secretariat has stated that he has decided not to campaign for the party. In the 2079 BS elections, the then President Deuba, who was the candidate from Dadeldhura from the alliance, had addressed meetings in only seven districts. He had addressed meetings in Dadeldhura, Surkhet, Dang, Butwal, Pokhara and Chitwan. Of the constituencies addressed by Deuba in that election, the Congress had won 2 seats in Dadeldhura and Surkhet and 1 seat in Dang.

According to analysts, Oli, Dahal and Nepal have been confined to their respective constituencies due to the fact that they have not formed an electoral alliance and voters are attracted to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). However, UML General Secretary Shankar Pokharel said that UML will be more effective when it focuses on digital and their respective constituencies rather than a nationwide campaign. ‘In a way, elections are now community-centered. Earlier, election campaigns were candidate-centered,’ he said, ‘In that sense, we have centralized the digital campaign.’

Agni Sapkota, coordinator of the NCP election campaign committee, said that they did not hold large rallies because the ‘NCP campaign with the people’ would be more effective. The NCP said that it is more effective when senior leaders and candidates focus on their respective constituencies and has emphasized meetings rather than rallies. 

Political analyst Jhalak Subedi says that Oli, Dahal and Nepal have not gone on a nationwide campaign mainly because they do not believe in securing their constituencies and increasing public opinion through speeches. ‘These three leaders are under pressure to protect their constituencies. Second, he may feel that he is not popular with the masses,' he said, 'He may not have the confidence that he can increase public opinion in favor of his candidate by going to other districts.'

Girdhari Dahal, Head of the Department of Political Science at Prithvi Narayan Campus Pokhara and Associate Professor, said that the major leaders of the Congress, UML and NCP are power-oriented and have to institutionalize the federal democratic republic and make the state bodies people-oriented, so they have to face more challenges in this election. 'The major leaders who are candidates in the election are under pressure. They are focused on winning the election in their own areas at all costs,' he said. He said that the main reason why the major leaders have not been able to go on a nationwide campaign despite the ideas, principles and organization of the old parties is the impact of the Gen-G movement.

Congress in preparation for meetings in major cities, RSP countrywide meeting and road show

The Congress has already made 10 visions public by holding an election meeting in Janakpur on February 6. The Congress has now decided to hold election meetings in some cities. President Thapa and Vice President Bishwaprakash Sharma will address. ‘There are preparations to hold election rallies in some cities with the chairman and other senior leaders addressing them,’ said Congress central member Arjun Narsingh KC.

Senior RSP leader Shah has already held a ‘road show’ in major cities from east to west. The RSP has already held rallies in Janakpur, Dhangadhi and Surkhet. The RSP had made its election manifesto public on 8 Falgun from a rally in Surkhet. Before that, the RSP had held election rallies in Dhangadhi on 6 Falgun and Janakpur on 6 Magh. These rallies were addressed by Chairman Lamichhane, senior leader Shah and others.