Biratnagar, November 11

With two heavy weights Dr Shekhar Koirala from the Nepali Congress and Lalbabu Pandit from the left alliance taking on each other for the parliamentary seat from Morang-6, it has become very difficult for political observers to predict the winner in the constituency.

Similarly, new faces like Kedar Karki and Chum Narayan Tawadar from NC and Jivan Acharya and Ramesh Pokharel from the leftist alliance are vying for two provincial assembly seats from Morang Constituency-6 in the upcoming elections.

As for the UML, Acharya and Pokharel are contesting for provincial Constituency- ka and kha respectively. While Pokhrel, who was a lecturer at the Mahendra Morang Campus, resigned from the post to contest the elections, Acharya is a businessman. He is the son-in-law to CPN-MC chairperson Puspa Kamal Dahal.  Acharya owns a business related to satellite in Kathmandu. He was Pokharel’s student at one time. While NC candidate Karki is a youth leader and a familiar face, Tawadar is a new entrant who had entered the Nepali Congress along with his party (Nepal Forum Democratic) chairperson Bijaya Kumar Gachhadar. Tawadar had lost to present parliamentary candidate Koirala in the first Constituent Assembly election. Karki and Tawadar are contesting from provincial constituencies ‘kha’ and ‘ka’ respectively.

As for the election agenda, provincial candidates of both parties have the same development agendas. The common agenda include initiatives to make Biratnagar the provincial capital, upgradation of Biratnagar airport, controlling erosion of river banks and expansion of the road network, besides development of agriculture and tourism sectors.