The Congress, UML, CPN (Maoist), and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have fielded the same candidates who had contested in previous elections this time as well.
What you should know
There is an election competition between old leaders in Dang-3 for the House of Representatives member.
Based on past votes, the main competing parties, Congress, UML, Nepali Communist Party and National Independent Party, have fielded candidates who have been competing in previous elections this time as well. Candidates from all parties have tested public opinion in previous elections.
Deepak Giri is a candidate from Congress for the sixth time. He was elected from the same constituency in the 2070 Constituent Assembly member election and the 2079 House of Representatives member election. In 2070, he defeated UML's Uttar Kumar Wali and in 2079, UML's Komal Wali.
He was defeated in the same constituency in 2051, 2064 and 2074. After being elected in 2070, he became the Minister of Irrigation. In 2051, Shankar Pokhrel of UML, in 2064, Sushma Sharma Ghimire of Maoists, and in 2074, Hirachandra KC of UML were defeated.
The Congress has been fielding the same candidate in this area for three decades. Gehendra Giri was elected only in 2056. Deepak Giri has been the candidate in all other elections. Some of the irrigation projects he brought when he was the irrigation minister seem to have had a good impact on the people. Although the Congress has a good vote bank in this area, it seems that he will have to work hard to prove the legitimacy of his candidacy to the voters who are looking for change.
Central member Ghanshyam Pandey has become a candidate from UML. He was elected as the deputy mayor of Tulsipur Municipality in 2054. At the age of 23, he was in the news at that time as the deputy mayor. Due to the ongoing armed conflict in the country, local body elections could not be held for 20 years. The next election had to wait exactly 20 years. Pandey waited for that time and was elected as the mayor of Tulsipur Sub-metropolitan City in 2074. At that time, he had done popular works like Metro College, Metro Hospital, active response to the Corona pandemic, systematic model bus park, auto village, vegetable market, and construction of commercial Tulsi Trade Tower. In 2079, he was defeated by Dilli Bahadur Chaudhary of the Nepali Congress from Dang 3 (1) for the Provincial Assembly.
Pandey, who has been active in politics since his student days, is currently a central member of the UML. He has worked to spread knowledge about the best practices of Nepal's community forests in various countries around the world as the central president of the Community Forest Consumers Federation. This is his first candidacy for the House of Representatives. He has been able to satisfy the people with the impact of his work by being elected twice at the local level, so it may be easy for him to get votes. According to the party consensus, it seems that it will be easy for him to add votes because Ghanshyam Dangi, the candidate of the Progressive Democratic Party led by Janardan Sharma, has supported Pandey.
While young voters are looking for a new candidate, he has an opportunity to increase his votes as a new candidate for the House of Representatives. Questions about the work that could not be done as per the expectations of the people when he was a public representative in the past may make him defensive.
In the 2079 House of Representatives election, the votes of the Congress and the UML are close in this area on the proportional representation side. The Congress has 26,575 votes while the UML has 26,117 votes. Looking at this vote, the main competitors are the Congress and the UML, but now the question of whether the votes at that time are safe has become a major challenge. The question of the UML leadership along with the young youth movement and the issue of the Congress, which is said to have changed with the leadership of Gagan Thapa, also fielding the same candidate, may become a major issue for the two old big parties.
Similarly, Dhan Bahadur Maski is contesting from the Nepali Communist Party. He resigned from his position as a provincial assembly member and entered the election. Maski was elected from Dang 3 (2) in the 2079 provincial assembly member election by getting 22,362 votes. At that time, he was also the Finance Minister of Lumbini Province.
He was elected in 2079 from a coalition of parties including the Nepali Congress, Janamorcha, and CPN (Unified Socialist Party). The party he represents, the Maoist Center, received 10,926 votes in the proportional representation. Now his party has split and become the Progressive Democratic Party led by Janardan Sharma. Some votes have been divided there. This also seems to affect him, but it seems that the voters were impressed by the work he did as the provincial finance minister as well as his activism. This has strengthened the possibility that he could also become a close competitor.
He is also under pressure to get another lucrative position after resigning from the ongoing provincial assembly seat. He also has the additional responsibility of justifying his resignation from the post elected by the people for five years.
Kamal Subedi is contesting from the Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSWP). He had won 15,326 votes as a candidate from RSWP in Constituency No. 3 in the 2079 elections. Congress leader Deepak Giri, the candidate of the alliance of the Maoist Center, the CPN (Unified Socialist) and others, won from that constituency with 36,911 votes.
RSWP had secured third place by getting more votes than the Maoist Center in proportional representation at that time. RSWP had received 15,410 votes in proportional representation. If Subedi can save this vote and benefit from the current wave of new parties and new candidates, Subedi can be a strong competitor. Even though he is participating in the election for the second time, he is easily defined as a new face because he was not able to get elected and work. The questions being raised about the legitimacy of the old leaders of the old parties may be a basis for him to attract voters.
Since it does not have its own extensive organization like other old parties, stealing votes from other parties is also a challenge for it. Along with the cooperative issue of the party president, the question of good governance that will arise for the party is also a challenge. Subedi was previously active in the social sector as the central president of the Federation of Youth Non-Governmental Organizations. He can also take advantage of that in the election. After joining the independent party, he got an MP ticket for the first time. Now getting a ticket for the second time is a big opportunity for him. The question of whether he can utilize this opportunity in the election may be meaningful for his future political journey.
For the first time in this election, the Netra Bikram Chand-led Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) is also in the competition. Bal Bahadur Wali, who has led the district for a long time, is in the fray. Damodar Bhandari from the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party, Kamala GC from the Rashtriya Janamorcha, Ghanshyam Chaudhary from the Mongol National Organization, and Santosh Singh from the Miteri Party Nepal are candidates.
Similarly, Shobha Dangi from the Janata Samajwadi Party, Pandavi Nepali from the Aam Janata Party, Pritam Chaudhary from the National Republican Nepal, Dalbir Kami from the Samyukta Nagarik Party, Top Bahadur Mahatara from the Shram Sanskriti Party, and Mahesh Chaudhary from the Nagarik Unmukti Party are also candidates here, along with nine independent candidates.
