After the poor results in the House of Representatives elections, some leaders of former President Sher Bahadur Deuba's party are raising questions about the ethics of Congress President Gagan Thapa, while Deuba and some top leaders of his group are accused of not cooperating with their own party's candidates. Leaders say that the most disruptions have occurred in the Far West Province, where Deuba has political influence.

After not getting a ticket in the House of Representatives elections, Deuba did not go to vote in his home district of Dadeldhura. He did not even convey a message through any means to win the Congress candidate. He had gone to Singapore on March 13 with his chief personal secretary Bhanu Deuba. He has not returned.

Deuba's wife Arju Rana, who is also a former foreign minister, did not go anywhere in the election campaign. She did not even seek votes through any means for formality. Rana had gone to Delhi on March 10, and she is still there. In the past, the Deuba couple used to vote from the Ganyapadhura polling station in Dadeldhura, and this time too, their names were there.

There are complaints that Deuba did not help not only the other faction within the party, but also the leaders of his own group to win the election. In the Far West, which has 16 constituencies, 6 people from the Deuba faction got tickets. Bharat Kumar Swar of Achham-1, Pushpa Bahadur Shah of Achham-2, Nainsingh Mahar of Dadeldhura, Janakraj Chaudhary of Kailali-1, NP Saud of Kanchanpur-2, and Hari Bohara of Kanchanpur-3 were candidates close to Deuba. Among them, only Swar won.

In the Far West, apart from Achham-1, the Congress won the election only in Bajura and Doti. In the 2079 election, the Congress had won 8 seats from this region. This time, the Congress lost Dadeldhura, which Deuba has been winning continuously since 2048.

The leaders who have been involved in politics all their lives as Deuba are now unhappy, saying that they lost the election due to his non-cooperation. Even before the special general convention, the then president Deuba had submitted the proportional list to the Election Commission. The central working committee elected from the special general convention that followed had directly given tickets to 35 people from Deuba's side.

Leaders close to Deuba, including Bimalendra Nidhi, Prakash Sharan Mahat, Vijay Kumar Gachhadar, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, Mahendra Yadav, Shankar Bhandari, Ajay Chaurasia, Ramesh Rijal, Kishore Singh Rathore, were in the election fray. They played an important role in making Deuba the president of the Congress twice and the prime minister five times. There is talk within the Congress that Deuba did not express his best wishes for them in the election. Many leaders had requested Deuba to appeal for votes in favor of the party's candidate.

Most of the Congress candidates in the Far West were confident that Deuba would win the election. They had put Deuba's photo in their campaign materials and asked for votes, but Deuba did not ask for votes for anyone.  Most of the Congress candidates in the far west were confident that Deuba would win the election. They had asked for votes by putting Deuba's photo in their campaign materials. Chatur Bahadur Chand, who was a candidate in Baitadi, claimed that former President Deuba was completely uncooperative.

'First, Baitadi, then Dadeldhura and other districts of the Far West were losing their own candidates. Hundreds of people were mobilized under the direction of the former President. Before going to Singapore and even from Singapore, there were phone conversations,' he said, 'The message that Sher Bahadur Deuba's existence will be saved only after defeating everyone in the Far West, otherwise he will be eliminated, spread far and wide. That had an impact on the vote.'

According to Chand, the party had recommended action against three people who were losing the Congress candidate in the middle of the election. Those recommended for action were Mahasamiti member Uttar Bahadur Air, District Working Committee member Birendra Air and Farmers Federation President Bhavanadev Bhatta. ‘Action was recommended against three people confirmed with evidence 20 days ago, we have also investigated the Doteli language audios used to defeat the election. Action is also recommended for more people,’ he said.

A Congress official has raised ethical questions against Deuba, saying that he secretly went abroad instead of seeking votes for the party and candidate in the election. ‘Why haven’t the leaders who questioned the ethics of President Thapa and said he should resign once raised the question of ethics against top leaders, including the former president?’ He says, ‘How ethical is it to go to the same land and geography that made him the Prime Minister five times, and not seek votes for the party once, and secretly go abroad when he is about to vote, when he does not get a ticket?’

Congress Vice President Bishwaprakash Sharma said that he will not say anything right now as the Central Working Committee meeting will be called to review the election. Spokesperson Devraj Chalise says that there is also a question of ethics in the fact that high-level leaders are not involved in helping the party’s candidate win. ‘No leader even went to vote, no one even went and supported him with his inner spirit. Only after a report comes from the district about it will it be right to speak more,’ he said.

Deuba had tried to be a candidate from Dadeldhura this time too. He had requested President Gagan Thapa for a ticket until the night of 5th Magh, the day before the nomination. The elected officials from the special general convention, however, came to the conclusion that Deuba should not be nominated as a candidate due to the governance problems under his leadership in the past and the Gen-G movement. After not getting a ticket, Deuba announced at 12:30 am on 5th Magh that he would not contest the election. Former Nepali Congress president Nain Singh Mahar got the ticket in Dadeldhura. He is Deuba's confidant.

Mahar came to Kathmandu twice during the election campaign, repeatedly called former president Deuba through Bhanu Deuba. But he did not go. 'What morality allows him not to cooperate when he is not there now,' said a leader close to him, 'Why should those who questioned Gagan take responsibility for losing the election not now question Sher Bahadur Deuba?'

The leader also says that there are internal reasons for the Congress's loss in the election. 'District and regional committees will prepare a report on who did the internal sabotage,' he says.

According to a Congress leader from Dadeldhura, there are more than a hundred Deuba family voters in the district. Most of them did not vote this time. ‘He himself worked hard in Deuba’s campaign throughout his life. He did everything he could to make him win, but now Deuba has not even wished him well,’ said the leader.

Former acting president Purna Bahadur Khadka, former office bearers Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Prakash Man Singh, and Shashank Koirala were not seen in the election this time. Shashank, who had won the election from Nawalparasi (Bardaghat Susta East)-1 in the 2070, 2074, and 2079 elections, did not seek votes from the Congress this time after not getting a ticket. This time, Bal Krishna Ghimire was the candidate in his place. When Shashank contested the election three times, many Congress workers, including Ghimire, worked day and night.

Prabal Thapa got a ticket from Kathmandu-1, where another leader Prakash Man Singh was contesting. Congress leaders say that Singh did not leave his house even after Thapa requested him several times. Another leader, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, is a leader who has contested elections seven times. This time, he is the leader of the Congress parliamentary party in the National Assembly. He did not campaign this time, nor did he publicly congratulate the candidates. This time, Rajendra Kumar Ghimire was the candidate in Jhapa-3, where he was contesting.

Former acting president Khadka, on the other hand, reached his home district of Surkhet only after the election silence period began. Many Congress leaders in Surkhet had requested him to campaign even before that. This time, his brother Bishnu Khadka was the candidate in Surkhet-1, where he was contesting. He did not campaign even when his own brother was a candidate. On 17 Falgun, he had gone to polling stations across the country through social media and requested them to put a swastika on the Congress election symbol.

After the election, Khadka issued another message on Monday, reminding everyone that it is their moral duty and responsibility to move forward with loyalty and dedication for the party's broad-based unity, free from unnatural ambitions, passions and urges. 'This is the appropriate way to face the Himalayan challenge facing us,' he said.

Leader Jitjung Basnet, close to Deuba, argues that the relevance of the special general convention has ended and says that a regular general convention should be held soon. He claims that the problem arose because the special general convention was held on the eve of the election. 'The election has already arrived, and it was said that a regular general convention should be held after that, but before the election, a special general convention was convened and the party was captured in the setting,' he says. 'The issue of whether the president resigns or not is a matter of morality that remains at his discretion. But the problem arose because the party was captured in the setting.'