Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's birthplace, Ganyapadhura 1 Matela village in Dadeldhura, is deserted even on the eve of the elections. When I reached Matela on Friday afternoon, the Deuba family here was busy building a temple for their ancestral deity on the banks of a ravine (river) a little below the village.

Former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's birthplace, Ganyapadhura 1, in Dadeldhura, is deserted even on the eve of the elections. When we reached Matela around noon on Friday, the Deuba family here was busy building a temple for their ancestral deity on the banks of the ravine (river) a little below the village.

They have worked with great enthusiasm in every election since 048. But they said that this is the first time they have not been very enthusiastic about the election. 'In the past elections, we used to go from village to village for months to campaign for Deuba, asking for votes.' When the results were announced, we would finally return home after a long journey,” said Karna Bahadur Deuba, who is a cousin of former Prime Minister Deuba. “This time, there is no enthusiasm.” The main reason why the people of Matela, Deuba’s birthplace, are so excited is that former Prime Minister and former Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba is not in the electoral fray this time. Not only the people of Matela, but most of the Deuba supporters in Dadeldhura do not seem excited. In the past, elections were like a festival for Congress supporters in Dadeldhura. No matter how many candidates from different parties and parties were fielded in the field of competition, Deuba was always the candidate from Congress. He was not only a candidate, not only Congress supporters, but also supporters of the opposition candidate were confident that “Deuba will win the election in the end.” ‘In Dadeldhura, the election was just a process for the Congress, and it could have been assumed that Deuba would win. Let alone the election hustle and bustle, there would have been a different kind of excitement,’ said 79-year-old Tekraj Awasthi of Ganyapadhura-1 Behta, ‘This time Deuba is not a candidate, I am not sure what will happen.’

At this time, Deuba supporters here say that comparing the past election hustle and bustle with the current situation, it does not feel like the election has come. In the 2079 election, Deuba had stayed in Dadeldhura for four days and addressed seven election rallies. He had addressed rallies organized in Bagbazar, Navadurga, Ganyapadhura, Ajaymeru, Bhageshwor Alital and Parashuram in Amargadhi Municipality, the district headquarters. He neither gave a long speech in those rallies. Nor did he criticize the opposition. ‘Even those who always complained before, during the voting, what would they do if they voted for others, everyone would vote for him, thinking that if they gave it to Deuba, he would become the Prime Minister,’ said Hari Prasad Bhandari of Ganyapadhura. ‘They used to say, “Why waste it by voting for others? That is why Deuba won with a huge margin of votes.”’

Deuba, who was injured in a fatal attack at his own home during the Gen-G movement, wanted to contest the election from Dadeldhura this time too. As per Deuba’s wish, the district working committee had recommended Deuba’s single name as a candidate. ‘At the last minute, the night before the registration of candidatures, the current chairman’s party would give tickets, but if he had to make a commitment not to stand in the parliamentary party,’ said a leader close to Deuba, ‘Before that, senior leaders supporting Deuba were given tickets and sent away with the promise of giving tickets to Deuba too.’ But after Deuba was given such a condition at the last minute, the Deuba Secretariat had to publicly inform the public at midnight that Sher Bahadur Deuba would not contest the election.''

As Deuba, who has been at the center of Congress and power politics for 34 consecutive years, is coming to an end, Congress leaders and workers throughout the Far West seem disappointed, not only in Dadeldhura, where Deuba's supporters are in the majority, but also in Dadeldhura. Deuba, who has been the Prime Minister five times and a member of parliament seven times, first became a candidate in Dadeldhura in 2048. Deuba's parliamentary journey began after he won in Dadeldhura by getting 70.5 percent of the votes cast in that election. In his first election contest, he defeated his closest competitor, Govinda Prasad Kalauni of UML.

He led the election leadership of Sudurpaschim Congress in 2048. In that election, the Congress won 18 out of 19 seats in the Far West under his leadership. He became the Home Minister when he was first elected. Since then, he has been a constant player in power.

He won 'resoundingly' in all seven elections in which he contested. Not only in the previous elections, but also in the Far West when Congress candidates from other constituencies were defeated. The 2064 and 2074 elections were elections in which the Congress suffered a great setback. The 2064 Constituent Assembly elections were dominated by the Maoists, while in 2074, the UML and the Maoists united. But Deuba did not lose those elections.

In the 2064 election, Deuba defeated his nearest competitor, Khagraj Bhatta of the Maoists, by 1,368 votes. In the 2074 general election, Deuba got 28,044 votes, while his closest competitor, Bhatta, got 21,115 votes. Thus, Deuba won the elections held in 2048, 2051, 2056, 2064, 2070, 2074 and 2079. Not only that, Deuba won wherever he filed his candidacy. In 2064, he also won from Kanchanpur 4 and in 2070, from Kailali 6.

Deuba wanted to be a candidate from Dadeldhura in this election as well. He had also recommended his name as a single candidate from Dadeldhura. But in the meantime, after the special general convention of the Nepali Congress, Deuba, who disagreed with the process, was pushed to the brink not only of party power, but also of parliamentary travel. Dadeldhura candidate Nain Singh Mahar is facing the most pressure as Deuba's supporters are not enthusiastic. But candidate Mahar claims that the situation is not like it was at the beginning as the grievances within the party are being minimized. 'The Congress of Dadeldhura, who love Sher Bahadur Deuba, are always democracy lovers, there is no doubt that the Congress will win, who the candidate is is secondary.' He also claimed that he is the priority after Deuba in Dadeldhura. 'Initially, we made a single recommendation after he said he would contest the election. I was preparing to contest the election in other areas,' but in the end, my preparations were made after his secretariat said that Deuba would not contest the election.'

He claimed that there were no differences among the party leaders and that the atmosphere in his favor has increased after the merger of the Congress BP. The Congress BP merged with the Nepali Congress on Sunday. ‘Deuba was a towering personality. When he was a candidate, the voters of Dadeldhura believed that our area would get a prime minister,’ says Ramesh Kumar Joshi, who works in the teaching field in Dadeldhura. ‘Although Nainsingh Mahar’s personality seems ‘small’ in comparison to Deuba, I don’t think that Congress supporters will have much disagreement with Mahar as he is a well-known candidate who has been active in Congress politics for a long time.’

Karna Bahadur Malla, the central vice-president of Congress BP, who is also a former district president of Congress, has an influence on Dadeldhura politics. Meanwhile, candidates from other parties in Dadeldhura are excited when Deuba leaves the field. Tara Prasad Joshi, who was elected as a provincial assembly member as an independent candidate in the last election, has become a candidate from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). ‘Deuba leaving the field and the differences within the Congress are the basis for me to win the election,’ Joshi said. ‘There is no doubt that I will win the election due to my educational background, concept of development, sympathy seen among the general voters and the wave towards the party.’

Stating that he was aware of the complaints about leaving the responsibility of the provincial assembly member midway, he said that it was a political matter. ‘I played my role in the provincial assembly for almost three years, even when the Chief Minister recommended my name to the provincial chief for the appointment of Mankri, I rejected the ministerial post,’ he said. ‘I made this decision seeing a greater opportunity to show influence and develop by reaching the House of Representatives.’

Another candidate in the Dadeldhura election fray is Mansingh Mal of the NCP. He claimed that his party’s votes will increase compared to the past. ‘I will gather the municipality during budget preparation and select a plan, and I will take initiatives to improve health services, education and road transport to stop migration to the deserted hills,’ he said. Although he claims that he has not held any position of profit so far, he is surrounded by allegations that only his family is getting opportunities. Mrs. Geeta Mal is currently a member of the provincial assembly, while her brother Sher Singh Mal ran for mayor of Parshuram Municipality in the local level elections. But Mal said that the leaders forced him to give him tickets.