Prakash Snehi of the Nepali Congress, Min Bahadur Kunwar of the Nepal Communist Party, Shailesh Kumar Singh of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Bharat Malla of the Netra Bikram Chand-led Maoists, and Dal Bahadur Dhami of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party are all new faces.
What you should know
Seven candidates from seven parties have filed their candidacies in Bajhang for the House of Representatives elections to be held on Falgun 21. Among the candidates from various parties, five new faces have entered the fray, while there are zero female candidates.
In Bajhang, except for Ain Bahadur Mahar of CPN-UML and Bishwaprakash Jethara of RPP, all are new faces. Mahar of UML is contesting for the second time after losing to Bhanubhakta Joshi of CPN-Unified Socialist Party in the 2079 BS elections. This is Jethara's fifth experience in contesting elections. He has been in the fray as a candidate in every election since the 2064 BS Constituent Assembly elections.
Prakash Snehi of Nepali Congress, Min Bahadur Kunwar of Nepali Communist Party, Shailesh Kumar Singh of Rastriya Swatantra Party, Bharat Malla of Netra Bikram Chand-led Maoists and Dal Bahadur Dhami of Nepal Mazdoor Kisan Party are all new faces.
Snehi, who is also the joint general secretary of the Congress, is contesting in direct elections for the first time despite being a proportional representation MP in 2074 BS, while this is also the first election experience for Kunwar, who has also been the district president of the CPN (Maoist-UML) alliance. Singh of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) who is known as a successful businessman is also contesting for the first time.
Bharat Malla, who has been active in the party since the war but has repeatedly boycotted elections while being in the Chand-led party, is also now contesting the elections to test public opinion. Dhami of the Workers' and Peasants' Party is also a new face for Bajhang.
The competition between Mahar of the UML, who has already gained election experience, and the new face seems to be interesting this time. Although there are seven candidates, it is being analyzed in the district that there will be a competition between candidates from the Congress, UML, CPN (Maoist) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
‘The main competition now is between the four parties, the old three and the new Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),’ says Lal Bahadur Bohra, assistant campus head of Jayaprithi Campus. ‘It seems that one of them will win.’
He said that it is difficult to predict whether this party will win as voters are not as stable as before due to the Genji movement and developments in information technology.
