KATHMANDU, JANUARY 30 'This is not the first time that Madhes is going to give a prime minister to this beautiful country,' said Anil Mahaseth, general secretary of Rastriya Mukti Party. According to Mahaseth, Madhes, a historically oppressed and discriminated region, has produced numerous prime ministers and is once again in the spotlight to determine the next prime minister following the March 5 election. 'The Koiralas (BP and Girija Prasad), Madhav Nepal and KP Oli are also from the land of Madhes. The people want to lead this country as PM. But they never appreciated the feelings of Madhesis,' Mahaseth said. 'This has compelled us (Madhesi) to think till now that this country is mine, but the state does not belong to us.' Interestingly, the atmosphere surrounding the upcoming elections is reminiscent of an election for a direct executive prime minister. Almost all major parties have announced their prime ministerial candidates and are participating in the election. The prime ministerial candidate of the Nepali Congress is Gagan Thapa, who was recently elected through a disputed special general convention and is running in Sarlahi Constituency-4, which has the lowest literacy rate of 39.5 per cent among Tarai-Madhes' 22 districts. According to reports, Nepali Congress President Thapa has left his traditional seat of Kathmandu Constituency-4 and moved to Sarlahi Constituency-4 in order to influence the Madhes results, which has 32 constituencies and 3.636 million voters. Speaking to mediapersons in Sarlahi, he even stated, 'Nepali Congress is the elder son of Madhes, and I am here to repent Congress' mistakes.' Thapa is up against his former comrade Amresh Singh, who has now joined the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP). Singh won the Sarlahi Constituency-4 as an independent candidate in 2022 after the Nepali Congress rejected his ticket. The RSP has also projected Balendra (Balen) Shah as a prime ministerial candidate, hailing from Mahottari, one of Madhes' districts. Balen is running for the Jhapa Constituency-5, challenging CPN-UML President KP Sharma Oli. Jhapa is one of the districts in the Tarai-Madhes belt. Oli, a four-time prime minister, is the face of the CPN-UML's prime minister candidate in this election. In this clash, one of the prime ministerial candidates will be eliminated in the first round. Thus, everyone interested in Nepali politics, including voters, candidates, political parties, and international power centres and media, is interested in the OliBalen spectacle. Madhav Nepal, former prime minister and Nepal Communist Party candidate, is also running for the Rautahat Constituency-1. Following the Gen Z movement, some groups called for a directly elected prime minister. A 'mini election' for a directly elected prime minister appears to be scheduled for March 5. The important thing to note is that the three leaders who have been declared as prime minister candidates are running in Tarai-Madhes. As a result, whoever becomes prime minister will be elected from Tarai-Madhes. Tarai-Madhes encompasses 22 districts ranging from Jhapa to Kanchanpur. These districts have a large number of Madhesi and Tharu communities. The Tarai- Madhes districts have produced the majority of the nation's elected prime ministers. Former PM KP Sharma Oli is from Jhapa, while current Prime Minister Sushila Karki is from Biratnagar. Biratnagar is home to Matrika Prasad Koirala, the first prime minister following the establishment of democracy in 1951, as well as Bishweshwar Prasad (BP) Koirala and Girija Prasad Koirala, the first prime ministers elected by popular vote. BP and Girija Prasad won the Morang election and became prime minister. Krishna Prasad (Kisunji) Bhattarai became the prime minister after winning the Parsa election in 1991. Sushil Koirala was the prime minister when the constitution was adopted in 2015. He was elected from Banke. Pushpa Kamal Dahal, coordinator of the Nepali Communist Party (formerly the CPN-MC), was prime minister three times. He was also elected from Siraha, a Madhes district, and Chitwan. Madhav Nepal, co-ordinator of the Nepali Communist Party, has also been appointed prime minister. He was elected from Rautahat. He was born in Gaur, Rautahat, and has been elected to the Parliament from Rautahat Constituency (specifically Rautahat Constituency-1) several times. Furthermore, the Tarai-Madhes belt has become more detrimental this time, as the NCP's Narayan Kaji Shrestha is contesting in the Sarlahi Constituency-3, establishment faction leader of Nepali Congress Bimalendra Nidhi in Dhanusha Constituency-3, CPN-UML Joint Secretary General Raghubir Mahaseth in Dhanusha Constituency-4, and outgoing minister of the electoral government Bablu Gupta in Siraha Constituency-1 are attempting to advance their parliamentary journey from Madhes movement leaders who rose to national political prominence, including Rastriya Mukti Party Chair Rajendra Mahato, JSP-Nepal Chair Upendra Yadav, Janamat Chair Dr CK Raut, Janadhikar Party Chairman Dr Sharad Singh Yadav, Aam Janata Party Chairman Prabhu Sah, Nepal Sanghiya Samajwadi Party Chair Rizwan Ansari and Rastriya Nirman Dal Chairman Samim Miya Ansari, are running in Madhes Province election constituencies. Harka Raj (Harka) Sampang, outgoing mayor of Dharan Sub-metropolitan City and the chair of the Shram Sanskriti Party, is running for the Sunsari Constituency-1 seat. The election excitement has grown even more as RPP Chair Rajendra Lingden competes in Jhapa Constituen2026 / 2082 cy-3, as do outgoing Speaker Devraj Ghimire and Deputy Speaker Indira Rana. Coincidentally, these districts all fall in the Tarai-Madhes belt, which plays a pivotal role in the making of a prime minister. Tulsi Giri served as prime minister three times during the Panchayat period under the reign of then-King Mahendra: In 1963, 1964 (second term) and 1975. He's from Siraha. Giri was brought back on February 1, 2005 as a co-chair of the council of ministers under king Gyanendra, a position considered equivalent to the prime minister's post. He served as prime minister four times. BP Koirala was elected prime minister in the first general election after the establishment of democracy in 1959. He was elected from Morang. Following the restoration of democracy in 1990, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai was appointed as the interim prime minister. In the 1991 general election, he was defeated by Madan Bhandari in the Kathmandu Constituency-1, but in 1999, he was elected from Parsa and became prime minister for the second time. Girija Prasad Koirala became prime minister five times after being elected from Morang. Not only was the prime minister from Madhes, but so was the first president of Nepal after the republic was established. Dr Ram Baran Yadav, the first president, is from Dhanusha. Similarly, the country's first vice-president, Paramananda Jha, is from Saptari, and the current vice-president, Ram Sahaya Prasad Yadav, is from Bara. In this election, whoever is elected from the Tarai-Madhes will be prime minister. Either Balen becomes the first prime minister from the Madhes community, or Gagan Thapa becomes the prime minister elected from the Madhes. If Oli is elected prime minister for the fifth time, he will represent the Tarai-Madhes district. Importantly, whoever becomes prime minister, the votes of the Madhes and Tharu communities will be decisive in selecting a new prime minister. Political analysts and experts have also agreed that the Tarai-Madhes districts have always played an important role in the selection of prime ministers, whether in the early days of democracy or today. According to political commentator Chandra Kishore, four prime minister candidates are currently running in Madhes, including three declared candidates, KP Sharma Oli, Gagan Thapa and Balen Shah, and one candidate, Madhav Kumar Nepal, who is running in the Rautahat Constituency-1. 'As a result, political parties have made a brilliant move in bagging votes and bridging the gap between Madhes and Kathmandu. The competition among pre-election prime minister candidates would also help to nationalise the Madhes issue and emotion,' he told THT. 'Previously, hilly leaders who won from here could not accurately represent Madhes' feelings. For example, when Madhav Kumar Nepal became prime minister, he wore a kurta and pyjama in his constituency, but he could never do so in the Parliament. All of these issues are important to the people to give the local community a national voice.' He emphasised that there are new expectations for new faces, including defending their identity, dress and culture. But if all they want is to act, democracy is not for them. 'They should learn from Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, who wore a dhoti both in Kathmandu and in his constituency. In a democracy, it matters how one owns diversity. However, it is important to determine whether they are dramatising or naturalising the situation. Madhes seek natural expression and must own this feeling,' he added. Timeline • Bishweshwar Prasad (BP) Koirala: 1959-1960 (First elected prime minister of Nepal. He was elected from the Morang district of eastern Tarai-Madhes.) • Tulsi Giri: (1960-1963, 19751977, 2005) (Giri was appointed PM for four terms, including the Panchayat era and Gyanendra Shah). He was from Siraha. • Krishna Prasad Bhattarai: (1990-1991, 1999-2000) (During his second tenure, Bhattarai was elected from Parsa, a district in Madhes Province). • Girija Prasad Koirala: 19911994, 1998-1999, 2000-2001, 2006-2008 (He was elected from Sunsari or Morang, both districts of Tarai-Madhes.) • Pushpa Kamal Dahal: 20082009, 2016-2017, 2022-2024 (In Dahal's second tenure he was elected from Siraha, a district in Madhes Province). • Madhav Kumar Nepal: 20092011 (Nepal has been elected from Rautahat district of Madhes multiple times). • Sushil Koirala: 2014-2015 (He was elected from Banke district, which falls in the Tarai-Madhes belt). • KP Sharma Oli: 2015-2016, 2018-2021, 2024. (Oli won from Jhapa district of Tarai-Madhes belt during each of his term as PM.)