National
Toss-up between NC and left alliance in Kailali-4
In Constituency No 4 of Kailali, it is going to be a two-way toss-up between Nepali Congress candidate Sunil Bhandari and left alliance candidate Lekh Raj Bhatta of CPN (Maoist Centre) in the December 7 polls.DR Panta
In Constituency No 4 of Kailali, it is going to be a two-way toss-up between Nepali Congress candidate Sunil Bhandari and left alliance candidate Lekh Raj Bhatta of CPN (Maoist Centre) in the December 7 polls.
Both candidates are popular among voters and have respectable positions within their parties. Bhatta is the Province 7 in charge of the CPN (Maoist Centre) and Bhandari a senior NC leader.
Voters and pollsters alike see no clear winner in Kailali Constituency No 4. The only thing that seems certain is that there are no other candidates who match the statures and popularity of Bhatta and Bhandari.
“Both left alliance and Nepali Congress have fielded popular candidates. It is going to be a fierce battle between the two,” said Ramchandra Awasthi, a social worker in Attariya.
The left alliance and the NC claim their candidates’ victory and they offer their own arguments.
While the left alliance of the CPN (Maoist Centre) and the CPN-UML is of the view that it is around 15,000 votes ahead of the NC based on the results of the local elections, the NC claims that the constituency has long been the party’s stronghold and that the defeat in the local elections was a result of intra-party dispute.
The NC is stronger and united this time, say the party supporters.
Bhatta and Bhandari have common vote banks. Both candidates migrated to Kailali from Gadsera Village in Doti, and a majority of the voters in the constituency are also migrant population from Doti, Dadeldhura and Achham, among other hill districts in the far west.
“Whoever garners more votes from the people who have migrated from Doti will be elected this time,” said Dharma Raj Joshi of Chaumala.
He said that most voters in the constituency was going to cast their ballots on the basis of local issues, ethnicity and area they represent.