The UCPN (Maoist) that became largest party in the last election is facing a tough time now mainly because some of the CA members and other influential leaders from this region joined the Mohan Baidya-led CPN-Maoist that has announced to boycott the polls.[break]
Local Nepali Congress (NC) leaders claimed that NC would emerge as the largest party with a clear margin in the region. UCPN (Maoist) leaders admitted that they might lose some seats in the areas.
Seti-Mahakali State Committee Member of UCPN (Maoist), Man Singh Mal said his party might lose some seats in the region. He, however, claimed that his party would secure majority by winning more seats in the Tarai and other parts of the country.
“We may not win 16 of the total 21 seats here in the region like in 2008. We won all seats in Kailali and Kanchanpur. That may not exactly be the result. Similarly, we may lose quite a few seats in some of the hilly districts of the region,” said Mal, who is also a member of the election steering committee of the UCPN (Maoist).
Of the total nine districts in the far-western region, Kailali alone has six election constituencies and Kanchanpur has four. UCPN (Maoist) won all the 10 seats of the two districts in the first CA election.
But Shankar Khadka (Bajhang), Sharad Singh Bhandari (Achham), Khem Bam (Doti), Laxmi Joshi (Darchula), Rupa Chaudhary and Bhagat Baduwal (Kailali), Harish Thakulla and Devilal Tharu (Kanchanpur), who won election under the first-past-the-post electoral system joined the Baidya-led party. Similarly, some other leaders including former Hari Lal Thapa, who became CA member under the proportional representation system, from this area are with the rival Maoist party.
Mal, however, claimed that his party hasn´t realized any impact of the party division at the grassroots.
Some civil society members believe in NC emerging as the largest party in the far-west. They said that the UCPN (Maoist) that majority seats in 2008 has lost the people´s trust over the last four years. “UCPN (Maoist) will not get the support it got from the people in the last election. It will be reflected in the results of the coming polls,” said Dharma Dev Bhatta, chief of Aishwarya Multiple Campus, Dhangadhi.
Non-Maoist leaders claimed they are confident about improving the results this time around as they weren´t allowed to carry out their election campaign during the CA polls in 2008. They said they have given continuity to door-to-door campaign in the far-flung villages.
Suresh Raj Joshi, chief of Mountain Multiple Campus in Dadeldhura, assumed NC would emerge as the largest party in the far-west.
CPN-UML district leader Yagya Raj Awasthi said the UCPN (Maoist) will be placed as the third-largest party in the region. He, however, claimed that his party would emerge the first and NC the second in the far-west.
Joshi believed that the UCPN (Maoist) has lost people´s sympathy. Past records in the far-west suggest that voters here in the far-west do not stick to one political party. In the first parliamentary election after the restoration of multiparty democracy in 1990, NC won 18 of the 19 seats in the far-west. Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) had won a single seat in Darchula while the UML won none. But in the midterm election after three years, NC secured only four seats. Again in 1999, NC won all the 19 seats. In 2008, it secured only two seats and UML three.
“We find a unique trend here in the far-west. Now in 2013, there is a wave in favor of the NC,” claimed Ramesh Lekhak, NC candidate from Kanchanpur.
Until 2008, the major rivals in the far-west were NC, UML and RPP. Now, UCPN (Maoist) and some other fringe parties are in the competition.
The debate of “integrated far-west” versus “Tharuhat province with Kanchanpur and Kailali” has emerged as a very sensitive and complicated issue in the far-west. This issue has put the UCPN (Maoist) in a difficult position.
The far-west was brought to a grinding halt for consecutive 32 days last year over the same dispute. During the general strike, UCPN (Maoist) leaders Lekhraj Bhatta and Tekendra Bhatta stood in favor of the proposal of integrated far-west while some other leaders firmly supported the proposal of delineating Tharuhat province comprising Kailali and Kanchanpur districts.
In the Maoist-proposed federal map included in its election manifesto, UCPN (Maoist) has delineated Tharuhat province including Kailali and Kanchanpur. This proposal has irked those who are for integrated far-west.
On the other hand, Lekhraj is facing tough time persuading the Tharu community to support him due to his pro-integrated far-west proposal. Tharu community is against it. As he is contesting from Kailali, winning election is difficult because of significant presence of Tharu community in the district. Tekendra Bhatta, who is contesting from Kanchanpur, is facing the same problem in his constituency.
NC is for delineating federal states based on economic viability. This policy on federalism makes NC´s position comfortable in the far-west.
It is so because some political parties who have been lobbing for ethnic- based federalism such as Federal Socialist Party Nepal have no influence in the region.
However, the votes to be secured by RPP candidates in some districts such as Kanchanpur and Baitadi may affect NC candidates.
Related story
NC likely to lose 7 seats in upper house
