The people themselves did not grant bail to journalist Rishi Dhamala, who loudly criticized the participants in the popular television program 'Janta Jan Chayan'. The famous journalist Dhamala, who filed his candidacy for the House of Representatives from Rautahat Constituency No. 4, has been immersed in the election field after being thundered on television.

Dhamala, who entered the fray with the mobile election symbol from the Aam Janata Party (AJP), is set to have his deposit forfeited after receiving very few votes. According to the election law, the deposit of a candidate who cannot get at least 10 percent of the total votes is forfeited.

Dhamala received a very small 655 votes compared to the 73,398 total votes counted. Although he garnered a lot of buzz during the election campaign by cutting sugarcane, driving a tractor, and presenting himself in a village style, that buzz did not translate into votes. The gap between buzz and reality seems to have set back his entry into politics from journalism at the very beginning.

This result of Rautahat-4 has shown the strong influence of established parties and the newly emerged Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in local politics, while the beginning of Dhamala's political journey has been very challenging.

This time, journalist Dhamala's election journey was full of buzz and interesting style. He was present on social media almost every day. Dhamala, who hails from Dhading, contested the election from Rautahat. He had taken out a huge motorcycle rally in Chandranigahapur during the last days of the election campaign. But he could not get the votes as per the rally. He used to send patients who were deprived of treatment due to their financial condition for treatment at his own expense.

Versatile campaigning style: From farming to chatpata

Dhamala left no stone unturned to win the hearts of voters during the election campaign. His campaigning style was no less than a scene from a movie. It seemed that the election was certain to go his way.

He not only worked hard in the sugarcane fields, cutting and carrying sugarcane, but also tried to understand the pain of the people by reaching the poor and Dalit settlements and crying with tears in his eyes. He tried to connect himself with the local people by driving a tractor and a bicycle.

While touring the village, he sometimes showed his skills as a carpenter and cut wood, and sometimes he went to a chatpata shop and made chatpata himself and fed it to the voters. During the election campaign, scenes of him hugging voters and crying and collecting donations for the treatment of patients also went viral.

Despite so much activity and discussion, the election results were not happy for him. By the time 5,000 votes were counted, he had received only 10 votes, which became a topic of much discussion on social media.

Ganesh Poudel of the National Independent Party (RIP) won from this constituency with 36,876 votes. He stopped Dev Prasad Timalsina of the Congress from scoring a hat-trick. Timalsina had won the House of Representatives elections in 2074 and 2079. There were 37 participants in the election race. Out of them, apart from the Congress and the NCP, the deposits of 34 candidates, including the CPN-UML, have been forfeited.

Dhamala, who has been involved in journalism for a long time, kept on asking for votes in the chowks, markets and inner villages. Dhamala is also one of the candidates who are determined to prevent Timalsina from scoring a hat-trick under any circumstances.

Timilsina of the Congress, Rishi Dhamala of the Aam Janata Party, Ram Kumar Bhattarai of the CPN (Unified Socialist), Ramji Sah of the CPN-UML, Ganesh Poudel of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rajkumar Das of the JSP, Kalyan Patel of the Janmat Party, Tulsi Giri of the Ujjaj Nepal Party and Satyanarayan Bhagat of the Pragatisheel Loktantrik Party were in the election race.