National
Keen contest on cards in Gulmi-1
Nepali Congress central member Chandra Bhandari and CPN-UML Secretary Pradeep Gyawali are filing their candidacy from Gulmi-1 for the upcoming federal elections.Ghanashyam Gautam
Nepali Congress central member Chandra Bhandari and CPN-UML Secretary Pradeep Gyawali are filing their candidacy from Gulmi-1 for the upcoming federal elections.
Gyawali, who has been the UML candidate from the area for the past 18 years, has won the elections from the constituency on two occasions, while Bhandari has won only once in the past.
The left alliance has the better results to show off in the local level elections as compared to the NC from the constituency. The expectant competition between two prominent leaders has created much excitement among the electorate. Gyawali kicked off his election campaign in the area on Tuesday, claiming that he would win the election easily on the back of left alliance. “I have struck the good chord with the people here since Panchayat regime. There won’t be any problem for me to win this time around as well,” said Gyawali, addressing an election programme at Shantipur in the district.
Bhandari is set to start his campaign on Thursday. “I have developed Gulmi as a model district in the past five years,” said Bhandari, indicating to the development works that had been carried out since his win in the second Constituency Assembly elections.
In the last local level elections in Gulmi-1, the UML had garnered 14,300 votes, 2,000 more than what the NC had secured. In constituency-2, the UML received 17,100 votes as against NC’s 12,300.
According to the District Election Office, there are 105,423 registered voters in the constituency. Gunanidhi Sharma, professor at the Resunga Multiple Campus, predicts a keen competition between Gyawali and Bhandari who are well-known figures both in the region and within their parties.
“Though the left alliance claims to have its stronghold here, it’s difficult to say anything due to the inter-party dissatisfaction and factions,” said Sharma.