Left alliance puts Congress in a bind

Surkhet, October 24

After the candidates filed their nominations for the first phase of parliamentary and provincial assembly polls slated for November 26, vote calculation has started in the seven districts of Province 6.

The vote calculation is based on votes earned by political parties in the last Constituent Assembly elections and the recently-held civic polls as bases.

Of the 10 districts in Province 6, parliamentary and provincial polls are slated for November 26 in Jumla, Humla, Mugu, Dolpa, Kalikot, Jajarkot and Rukum.

The major fight is considered to be between the left alliance and Nepali Congress in these districts.

In the last Constituent Assembly elections and civic polls, the competition was among the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre in the province.

The electoral alliance forged between the UML and Maoist Centre in the province, which is a stronghold of Maoists, has weakened NC candidates.

In the first phase of the polls, seven lawmakers for the House of Representatives and 14 Provincial Assembly members will be elected from Province 6.

Considering the votes earned by the parties in the last CA and civic polls, the Maoist Centre could win the polls in Rukum west alone. The Maoist Centre had won all seven local levels in the civic polls.

Maoist Centre leader Janardan Sharma from the left alliance and NC’s Gopalji Jung Shah are in the fray for the House of Representatives from Rukum west.

The left alliance is deemed very strong in Jajarkot. Though the CPN-UML was the first party in the civic polls, Maoist Centre’s leader Shakti Bahadur Basnet is the joint candidate from the left alliance for parliamentary polls while NC has fielded Rajiv Bikram Shah for the House of Representatives.

Combining the left votes puts NC’s Shah behind by over 15,000 votes. Shah, however, claimed he would get votes from all the parties due to his image as social worker.

In Kalikot too, the left alliance has the double the number of votes of the NC. The Maoist Centre, which emerged as the first party in the last Constituent Assembly and civic polls has fielded the party’s district Chair Durga Bahadur Rawat, while the NC has fielded Tarun Dal General Secretary Bhupendra Jung Shahi for parliamentary polls in Kalikot. Shahi was defeated by double the number of votes in the last CA polls. Maoist Centre leader and Minister without Portfolio Mahendra Bahadur Shahi is the candidate for provincial assembly in the district.

The left alliance has made it difficult for the NC in Jumla and Humla though the party won the districts in the last polls. Jivan Bahadur Shahi from Humla and Lalit Jung Shahi from Jumla, elected as Constituent Assembly members from the last CA polls are no longer candidates from the NC this time.

NC has fielded Mangal Bahadur Shahi in Humla and Devendra Shahi in Jumla for parliamentary polls.

The left alliance has fielded Maoist Centre’s Gajendra Mahat in Humla and Chhimi Lama in Jumla to contest the parliamentary polls.

When the votes of the UML and Maoists are combined, the NC candidates lag behind with the double the number of votes in both districts.

The left alliance has weakened the NC in Mugu and Dolpa of Karnali.

The UML had emerged as the first party in the last Constituent Assembly polls and civic polls in both the districts. UML’s candidate in Dolpa for parliamentary polls Dhan Badahur Budha said it was hardly a competition with the NC candidate when UML votes combined with Maoist votes in Dolpa and Mugu.

NC central leader Jivan Bahadur said his party’s performance would be encouraging despite the left alliance. “Our candidates are popular at the local level. So, we shall win,” Jivan Bahadur said.

Meanwhile, UML Province 6 Joint-Coordinator Yamlal Kandel claimed that the left alliance would make a clean sweep of Province 6. “NC has no chance of winning as the alliance is ahead with double the number of votes in all the districts of the province,” Kandel added.