Surkhet, November 3

Old faces are taking new contenders in the upcoming elections in Surkhet.

Nepali Congress leader Purna Bahadur Khadka is contesting election for a fifth time. In the past, he has won a parliamentary berth four times. The former home minister is running in Constituency No 1 of the district.  Since the 1991 polls, Khadka’s major rival had been UML’s Rishiram Sharma who was slain ahead of the first Constituent Assembly polls.

This time, Khadka has found a new rival in UML’s Surkhet district chairperson Dhruv Kumar Shahi, who is contesting the poll for the first time.

Just like Khadka, fellow leaders Hridayaram Thani and UML’s Yamlal Kandel have so far competed elections against each other four times, each emerging winner on two occasions.

However, they need not renew their rivalry this time, as Kandel, seen as a strong contender for chief minister of Province 6, chose to run for provincial assembly elections, this time around. Instead, Thani is taking on UML district chairperson Nawaraj Rawal as his major rival in the election. Rawal has contested parliamentary elections three times in the past.

UML has fielded its candidates for parliament seats while its ally CPN-Maoist Centre candidates have filed nominations for provincial elections only, in the district.