Widespread public cynicism towards the party for its failure to keep its promises from the last CA election, the party split resulting in a division of voters, the issuance of voter ID cards with photos nixing any possibility of bogus voting, a decrease in the number of voters and the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML recouping the public connections they had lost during the insurgency period are some of the factors weighing against the Maoists, according to locals. [break]
Fearing loss of credibility among the people, the Maoists would leave no stone unturned to retain its hold on the district, locals believe. However, the task is not without challenges.
In the last CA election, Maoist candidate in constituency-2 of the district, Janardan Sharma, had garnered three times more vote than his nearest opponent. Sharma received 30,270 votes while his nearest opponent, Prem Prakash Oli of Nepali Congress, received 9,250.
Sharma is again running from the same constituency, but this time his opponents appear to be stronger. Former state minister Gopalji Jung Shah from Nepali Congress and Thagendra Prakash Puri, Rukum district chair of the UML, are competing against Sharma.
UML contestant Puri said that his victory is certain as he has not done anything against the people´s interest. “My party and I have done nothing against the people´s will and I am confident people will evaluate the contribution I have made to the district,” he said.
Similarly, former state minister Shah is also taken as a strong contender as he has been active in the politics of the district since the Panchayat era. Khadga Bahadur Dangi, NC local leader, claimed that his party would come out victorious from constituency 2 as Maoist public support has dwindled substantively since the CA election in 2008.
Dangi even ruled out the possibility of the UCPN (Maoist) being a strong competitor against NC. Rather, he opined that NC and the UML will be the two top parties in the constituency.
Local political analysts believe that the competition facing the Maoists in consistency- 2 is relatively tougher than in constituency- 1.
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