Rajbiraj, November 4 As the nominations for the upcoming provincial and parliamentary elections concludes, election fever has gripped Saptari of late. Among others, Saptari Constituency No 2 is being closely watched with a three-way battle expected among Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal Chairperson Upendra Yadav, leftist alliance’s candidate and former minister Umesh Yadav, and former Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal co-general secretary and independent candidate Jaya Prakash Thakur. Saptari is the heart of Madhes and so always attracts a lot of attention. Though FSF-N Chief Yadav, who is also the common candidate of the alliance between the party and Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal, is a popular leader in Madhes now. Thakur, who quit the RJP-N to contest independently, is also considered a force to reckon with. “As the bulk of the voters will divide between Yadav and Thakur the outcome is unpredictable,” said a local, adding a total of 18 candidates, including independent ones, are in the fray in the constituency. FSF-N Chair Yadav said, “I don’t have any motive other than ensuring  prosperity and development of this place and entire Madhes,” he said, adding he had to choose Saptari as per the agreement with the RJP-N. Independent candidate Thakur, however, took exception to Yadav’s candidacy from the alliance and said he had to file nomination as independent candidate as per people’s aspiration. “As his (Yadav’s) candidacy was something imposed from the centre, I had to file my candidacy respecting people’s sentiments,” said Thakur. On his part, leftist alliance candidate Yadav hoped that voters would vote for him. “As I’ve always stood by the people here, I’m confident that the people will choose me as their representative,” he said. It is important to note that RJP-N and FSF-N have the biggest vote base in the constituency if the vote figures of the recent local polls are anything to go by. While RJP-N had won both mayoral and deputy mayoral posts and a majority of wards in Rajbiraj Municipality that falls in constituency-2, FSF-N mayoral candidate had lost by a meagre margin of 15 votes.