KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 2 'No candidate has won twice from Saptari Constituency-2 due to better political awareness,' said Dr Sharad Singh Yadav, who is also running in the constituency from the newly formed Janadhikar Party in the upcoming March 5 election. 'This time around, citizens want better representatives too.' According to him, Dr CK Raut's reputation has been tainted by a number of issues that have arisen within the party. Umesh Yadav, a candidate for the Janata Swamajwadi Party-Nepal (JSP-N), left the CPN (Maoist) shortly before being nominated. Satish Singh, former Chief Minister of Madhes Province, is also running for office after resigning as a provincial member and registering with the Swabhiman Party. 'But people are concerned about Singh because he left the Madhes Assembly before completing his term. Although I don't see my opportunity, people are looking for a better option,' he said. Dr Sharad Singh Yadav previously worked for the Janamat Party, which is led by Dr CK Raut. He also served as the party's spokesperson. However, he recently parted ways with Raut and is in the fray in Sapatari Constituency-2. 'I left Janamat due to increasing nepotism and favouritism in the party and considering the need of the hour,' he stated. 'Raut considers himself superior to all and wishes to be believed and respected.' As a result, the Saptari Constituency-2 election is likely to gain significant traction in the Lower House of the Federal Parliament's March 5 election, as it did previously. In the 2022 election, Janamat Party President Dr CK Raut and Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal (JSP-N) Chair Upendra Yadav ran in this constituency. Upendra Yadav was defeated in 2022. This time around, JSP-N Chair Upendra Yadav was planning to run in the same constituency, but because Chair Raut did not leave, he has moved to Saptari Constituency-3. JSP-N's candidate for Saptari Constituency-2 is leader Umesh Yadav. This time, two leaders who worked closely with Raut in Saptari Constituency-2 have lined up against him. Satish Singh, who has become the Chief Minister of Madhes Province from Janamat, has filed his candidature against Raut from the Swabhiman Party, as has Dr Sharad Singh Yadav from the Janadhikar Party formed under his own leadership. They both left the party, citing Raut as the cause. Interestingly, both have become presidents of separate Madhes-centric parties and Raut's opponents. Chair Raut asked Chief Minister Satish to resign following the Gen-Z movement last September 8 and 9. Later, after the movement had subsided, he wished to remain Chief Minister, but Raut forcibly removed him. He'd already left the party by then. He resigned from the Madhes Provincial Assembly one day before registering his candidature against Raut. Sharad Singh had also quit the party due to Raut. Declaring that there ought to be a generational shift following the Gen Z movement, he had called for Raut's resignation. Raut, however, told Sharad Singh to 'resign or face action' rather than step down, and he went on to found the Janadhikar Party. In the previous election, Raut had won from Saptari Constituency-2 with 35,042 votes, while JSP-N Chair Yadav had only received 16,979. JP Thakur of the then-Loktantrik Samajwadi Party Nepal (LSP-N) had garnered 7,347 votes. JSP-N and LSP-N have now merged. The then-LSP-N was backed by the Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist), while the JSP-N was backed by the CPN-UML. However, no party has formed an alliance this time. Everyone has submitted their individual candidatures. Ram Kumar Yadav of the Nepali Congress, Md Ziaul Rahman of the CPN-UML and Suryanath Yadav of the Nepali Communist Party (NCP) have all filed their candidatures, as have several new parties. Ramji Yadav of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), Ranju Kumari Jha of the Nepal Janata Party (who is running for this party after leaving the JSP), Tribhuvan Khang of the Shram Sanskriti Party, Deepak Chaudhary of the Ujyaalo Nepal Party and Balram Yadav of the Janata Loktantrik Party Nepal are also candidates. According to initial reactions in the area, although there are 32 candidates, the main competition appears to be between Raut, Satish Singh and JSP-N leader Umesh. Satish was elected as the Tilathi Koiladi Rural Municipality Chair at the local level by the then Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-N) in 2017 and as a Janamat Party member of the Provincial Assembly from Saptari Constituency-2 (A) in 2022. His father was a National Assembly member from the LSP-N. In other words, Satish, who comes from a family with longstanding political clout, is seen as a formidable opponent to Raut this time around. Satish received 16,737 votes for the Provincial Assembly in the 2022 elections from Saptari Constituency-2 (A), while his nearest rival, Shailendra Sah of JSP-N, received only 8,292 votes.