Dhangadi, October 25

With the filing of nominations for the first phase of parliamentary and provincial elections scheduled for 26 November in Baitadi, Darchula, Bajhang and Bajura districts of Province No 7, people, party leaders and cadres have started calculating votes and predicting possible winners.

On the basis of votes garnered by parties in the civic polls, the UML-CPN-Maoist Centre alliance appears ahead of the NC. However, factors such as new voters, dispute seen in the alliance and candidates’ image have made it difficult to predict likely winners.

The CPN-Maoist Centre will be lending support to the UML candidates in all four districts for the House of Representatives. All four districts have one constituency each for the parliamentary polls.

Of the eight seats for provincial assembly polls in four districts, the UML has fielded its candidates in five places, while the Maoist Centre has filed nominations for three constituencies for provincial assembly polls.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party is supporting the Nepali Congress for the parliamentary seat in Baitadi and the NC will assist the RPP for one seat in the provincial assembly election in Baitadi.

The UML-Maoist Centre alliance is ahead of the NC with 15,179 votes when the votes received by parties in the civic polls in Bajhang are considered. Despite the big margin, NC is set to take advantage of the dispute seen in the UML.

Former Minister Bhanubhakta Joshi and UML district Chair Dil Bahadur Singh were recommended for the House of Representatives and provincial assembly polls in Bajhang-A. However, their names were changed at the last minute angering their supporters.

Nepali Congress won six of the nine local levels in the civic polls in Bajura. The left alliance and the NC are expected to have an interesting poll fight in the district. NC secured 23,203 votes in the civic polls. UML and Maoist Centre got 22,569 and 4,000 votes respectively. The Maoists are supporting the UML for both parliamentary and provincial polls in the district. This could make a difference.

In Baitadi, the left alliance is ahead of the NC-led democratic alliance with over 10,000 votes. NC and Rastriya Prajatantra Party secured 34,310 votes while the left alliance received 44,516 votes in the civic polls.

In the home district of NC leader Dilendra Prasad Badu in Darchula, the left alliance is ahead of the NC with 8,735 votes. The left alliance secured 30,506 votes while the NC secured 21,770 votes in the civic polls.