Rajbiraj, November 10

With two brothers set to take on each other in the upcoming parliamentary election from the same constituency, it has added more excitement to election scenario in Saptari Constituency-3 of late.

While CPN-UML’s former lawmaker Tarakanta Chaudhary is contesting from leftist alliance, his elder brother Chandrakanta Chaudhary is running on behalf of the alliance forged by the Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal and the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal.

The decision of the brothers to face each other in the polls, however, has got their supporters dismayed. As both have considerable influence in the local community, voters are confused as to who to vote for.

Speaking about his candidacy, Tarakanta said his candidacy was finalised quite early on. “I decided to run respecting party’s decision. Since I have also the support of the CPN-Maoist Centre as per the alliance, I’m very optimistic about my chances of victory,” said Tarakanta, who was elected to the second Constituent Assembly from here. As per sources, Tarakanta’s candidacy had been fixed about a month ago, while his brother’s, only on the day of nominations.

On his part, Chandrakanta attributed his candidacy to the decision of the Madhesi alliance. “As all Madhesi parties were up for it, I had to accept their proposition and contest from this constituency,” he said, who seemed confident that he would win from here given the support of all the Madhes-based parties. “On the one hand, I’m close to the people and on the other, there is a huge public support for the Madhes-based parties,” he said.

Meanwhile, Nepali Congress district president Dinesh Yadav is contesting from this constituency, who hopes to benefit from the competition between the two siblings. “I’ve been in politics for long. As I’ve always stood by the people no matter what, there is no way people let me down,” reasoned Yadav, who had lost to Tarakanta in the second CA polls.

As for the results of the local elections held earlier this year, while RJP-N had won Dakneshwori Municipality and Rupani Rural Municipality, NC had won in Shambhunath Municipality and Bishnupur and Belhi Chapena rural municipalities. UML had lost by a meagre margin in these local units, and seems confident to walk away with victory as voters divide between NC’s and Madhes-based parties’ candidates. The constituency has a total of 85,489 voters.