Can NC’s Khadka scoop a hat trick?

Gaighat, November 21

Constituency No 1 of Udayapur has an exciting electoral battle in store as two rivals vie for victory in the upcoming parliamentary poll this December.

While Nepali Congress leader Narayan Khadka is eyeing a hat trick with yet one more win this time, his rival Manju Chaudhary of UML is all poised to break his winning streak with bonus votes of alliance partner CPN-MC.

Khadka had won both the first and second Constituent Assembly election from here with a huge margin. But, in the changed political scenario when two large communist forces have tied up in an alliance, walking off with a win seems to be an uphill task, more so, if past results of the local elections are anything to go by. UML and CPN-MC had, in the local elections, garnered 24,516 and 16,206 votes, which total up at 40,722, against 24,431 votes of the NC.

But, left analyst Baikuntha Dahal genuinely doubts voters will cast their vote along the same lines as in the local elections this time around. “Rather than alliance or non-alliance, it’s the leverage of candidates in national politics that will determine whether they win in the upcoming election,” he said, adding, those candidates who have earned good credit by doing tangible things will obviously win irrespective of all the other factors.

Constituency-1 comprises three municipalities, of which two were won by the UML, while the third went to the NC’s fold. Though the Chaudhary community makes up the bulk of the population along ethnic lines, a local leader ruled out chances of the left alliance candidate winning all the votes of her community. “It’s not so easy as we think, that you’re a Chaudhary and all the members of your community vote in your favour.