A preliminary report of the CPN-UML probe committee has pointed out Bamdev Gautam’s own modus operandi rather than betrayal from the party’s rank and file was responsible for his shocking loss in the recent federal parliamentary elections.

The UML central committee had formed the three-member panel under Baijanath Chaudhary to probe into the shocking loss of its influential leader and Vice-chairman Gautam in Bardiya-1.

Though the panel has not formally submitted its report to the party central committee, a party source said that Gautam’s own working style and his approach to the local people were mainly responsible for the defeat.

The committee members have left for Kathmandu after carrying out the investigation in Gulariya, the district headquarters. Chaudhary told the Post over the phone that the team would submit a final report after further investigation, reaching out to the grassroots level.

The party source said that the preliminary investigation showed Gautam’s indulgence in nepotism and favouritism as “the chief cause of his loss”. The voters were enraged as Gautam announced that his son Harish would contest the elections next time and enlisted his wife Tulasa in the closed list of Proportional Representation, the source added.

Gautam’s failure to return to the district after his earlier poll win, indifference towards the educated but unemployed youths and the frequent floods in the region led to the defeat, the preliminary report says.

Though the left alliance of the UML and CPN (Maoist Centre) secured a comfortable majority in the recently held elections to the federal parliament and provincial assemblies, Gautam suffered a shocking defeat in Bardiya-1 at the hands of Nepali Congress (NC) candidate Sanjaya Kumar Gautam by a narrow margin of 758 votes. The UML district leadership has been sharply divided over the loss, with one faction claiming “betrayal” by some party leaders and activists and the other pointing to Gautam’s “unpopularity” and “negligence” to the constituency. In the local elections, the UML had garnered 28,852 votes, finishing ahead of the Maoist Centre (28,722) and the NC (27,091).

Political analysts say that Gautam, who has contested for the House of Representatives six times from Bardiya since the General Elections in 1993, could not take concrete initiatives to carry out development activities in the district except the Babai Irrigation Project. On the other hand, his rival Sanjaya Gautam, who is also Minister for Irrigation in the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led government, has allocated budget for various development activities in a short period of time. He allocated budget for the construction of Rammapur-Gulariya road section, embankments on the Babai river and took initiatives to run the Gulariya-Murtiha border point.