As the date of the House of Representatives election approaches, the election atmosphere in Palpa Constituency No. 2 is heating up. Fourteen parties and two independent candidates are reaching out to voters in this constituency. All parties are seeking votes in their own way. According to Bishnu Prasad Pandey of Dobhan in Tinau Rural Municipality, this time, it seems that the way to seek votes is different from the past. 'Everyone is seeking votes under their own election symbols,' he said. 'The excitement like in the past elections has not been seen this time.' According to him, the candidates are gathering, discussing and campaigning door-to-door. There are no flag displays and slogan rallies like before in the villages. After the voters returned, the hustle and bustle in the deserted villages has increased. Candidates and representatives are busy trying to attract voters to their side.

‘This time we have not seen an environment where only one party is misleading us,’ said Kamal Khatri of Rainadevi Chhahara, ‘Whoever comes, they feel the same. I have sent those who come asking for votes to be laughed at.’ Many are interested in the competition in this area.

UML has re-nominated Thakur Prasad Gaire, who was elected in 2079 BS. The Congress has nominated District President Himal Dutt Shrestha as its candidate. Som Prasad Pandey is in the fray from the NCP. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has nominated Madhav Bahadur Thapa as its candidate. Shrestha and Thapa are former colleagues. Gaire and Pandey were also colleagues in the 2074 BS election. Pandey won the election from this constituency in 2074 BS. Pandey, who became the Unified Socialist candidate in 2079 BS, was defeated by Gaire by 4,000 votes. Pandey was the joint candidate of the Unified Socialist Party, Congress, Maoist Center and Rastriya Janamorcha. UML's Gaire got 28,645 votes. Pandey got 24,899 votes. In

2079, RSVP candidate Som Prasad Gerai got 5,349 votes. Man Bahadur Darlami of Mongol National Organization got 1,604 votes. Pandey is an old and experienced leader of the district. He has experience of continuously contesting elections since 2051. After the 2070 election, Pandey also became the Minister of Industry. Pandey lost the 2064 election to the then Maoists. Pandey was defeated by CPN-Maoist candidate Leela Somai. He won the 2070 Constituent Assembly election by a narrow margin. Pandey of the CPN was a candidate from Palpa-2 in 2051, 2056, 2064, 2070. He won in the election alliance between the UML and the Maoist Center in 2074.

Pandey is an old and experienced leader. He joined the Nepal Communist Party in 2030 and recounts his experience of spending 32 days in jail in 2036. At that time, he was a teacher. Pandey said that he was arrested when he was active in favor of multi-party politics. In 2040, he became the deputy secretary of the village committee of the CPN-M. After 2051, he became a district committee member, central member and Palpa in-charge for 17 consecutive years. He is also an advocate.

This time, he said that he started his election campaign from Siddha Baba and made physical infrastructure, education, health and employment the main agenda. He has led the work of the Blood Bank, Tansen Drinking Water, Siddha Baba Tunnel, Damkada Polytechnic, Madi Chakrapath and other projects in Tansen. UML's Gaire emerged from student politics. His political stature increased after he defeated Pandey of the Unified Socialist Party in the previous election and became an MP. He pledged to work from the street to the parliament for the development and prosperity of Palpa. He also said that he would do the work that was left to be done based on past experience.

Gaire has been continuously active in politics since joining the organized membership of the then CPN (ML) in 2047 BS. He was elected as the central member of ANNFSU in 2053 BS and as the president in 2063 BS. He entered central politics from the eighth general convention of UML held in Butwal. He was defeated as the secretary in the 11th national convention of UML. He has been elected as a central member. Gaire, who was elected in 2079, said that the commitments and development work made to the people and the development work done by him were not completed because the country went to the election within 31 months of completing its five-year term. Gaire said that the UML organization is strong in Region 2. Gaire claims that he will win this time as well since UML contested the election alone in the previous election and won.

Shrestha, the Congress candidate, is a candidate for the first time. The influence of the young candidate Shrestha is seen well in this region. Shrestha is a member of the Mahasamiti, a central member of the Nepal Students' Union, and the president of the Self-Student Union of Tribhuvan Multiple Campus Palpa, and is considered well-known and popular in this region as he has come to the political and social field. 'I understand the problems that the people of this country have been facing since the past,' he said, 'I am in the election fray this time to solve the problems.' Shrestha, who raised the issue of the people's livelihood, said that he is committed to being responsible, accountable and always supporting them in good times and bad.

Thapa, the candidate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was previously a district member of the Congress. He recently left the Congress and joined the RSS. Thapa has no experience of working in geography. Now, Thapa is seeking votes by saying that he will complete the work that could not be done in the past and that the responsibility should be given to the shoulders of the youth.

He has said that he will work for zero tolerance for corruption, transparency, accountability and good governance since the nomination registration. Thapa said that he will work for the development of infrastructure such as education, health, employment, roads. The RSS has increased its confidence in the young youth. There is still no organization in the village. Thapa said that he will also compete with the old parties in this election.

When Palpa was constituency number 3 before 2074, the Congress won in the western region in 2048 and 2070. Apart from that, UML Vice President Bishnu Poudel won the election from UML in 2051 BS, Yadav Bahadur Rayamajhi in 2056 BS, and Kul Prasad Nepal in 2064 BS. When there were three constituencies, Hari Prasad Nepal of the Congress won the election in 2048 BS and 2070 BS. When the former Palpa-3 constituency was there, it was a constituency where the Congress and the UML would win/lose by a narrow margin. After federalization, some parts of the former Palpa constituency in the district were merged into constituency number 1 and some parts into constituency number 3 of the former Palpa. In the 2079 BS election, the UML had secured 22,529 votes on the proportional representation route. The second-placed Congress had secured 20,154 votes, while the National Independent Party had secured 8,378 votes. The then CPN (Maoist Center) had secured 5,994 votes and the Unified Socialist Party had secured 1,306 votes.