Rajbiraj, December 2

After defeating Chandranarayan Yadav in the 2013 Constituent Assembly election, Ashok Kumar Mandal is bracing for yet one more win in the parliamentary elections from Saptari. This time, however, he has Chandranarayan’s elder brother Suryanarayan as his rival.

Mandal, who had won from Constituency-2 in the second CA poll is a left alliance candidate from Constituency-1 this time will be contesting against Yadav, who is a common candidate of the Federal Social Forum Nepal and Rastriya Janata Party Nepal. The present constituency of Mandal comprises all of the erstwhile constituency 1 plus some parts of constituency-2.

Back in the 2013 CA elections, CPN-MC had won three constituencies, namely constituency-1, 2 and 3. Mandal, from constituency-2, had UML candidate Suman Raj Pyakurel as his closest contender, while Chandranarayan had been relegated to the third position.

Though the Madhes alliance and left alliance candidates are claiming them as the potential winner, election analysts, have said nothing can be said now.

“As the former winner also has the support of UML this time, his chances are strong. However, the FSFN-RJPN candidate is not weak, as he is a retired doctor and pretty popular here,” said a local political expert, also calling democratic alliance candidate Ramdev Sah as a candidate to reckon with.