By Our Reporter
After the Election Commission decided to hold the by-election of the House of Representatives in all three vacant constituencies on April 23, the political parties concentrated their focus on the elections.
The by-election is being held in Chitwan-2, Tanahun-1 and Bara-2 next month. HoR seat of Chitwan-2 has fallen vacant after the Supreme Court order of January 27 dismissed the post of the lawmaker Rabi Lamichhane of Rastriya Swatantra Party stating that he was elected by presenting an unlawful citizenship card. Lamichhane was elected securing 49,300 votes from the constituency while his rival Umesh Shrestha received 14,988 votes.
Likewise, after Ram Chandra Paudel elected from Tanahun-1 became the President and Ram Sahay Yadav elected from Bara-2 became Vice President, the two seats had also fallen vacant.
Paudel of the Nepali Congress was elected by securing 25, 318 votes while his closest rival Ek Bahadur Rana of the CPN-UML garnered only 19, 925 votes in Tanahun-1.
Likewise, Ram Sahay Yadav of Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal was elected from Bara-2 with 13, 822 votes while his closest rival Shivachandra Prasad Kushawa got 13,468 votes.
Although the parties are yet to finalise their candidates in all three constituencies, Lamichhane himself is contesting the election in Chitwan while Upendra Yadav, chairman of JSP-N, will be contesting in Bara-2.
Likewise, Govinda Bhattarai is likely to be the NC candidate in Tanahun-1. As NC, JSP-N and RSP are now coalition partners, they may also contest the election by forging alliance at least in Bara-2.
But such an alliance looks impossible in Tanahun and Chitwan. The RSP and Rastriya Prajatantra Party have already decided to contest the election in all three constituencies without forging alliance. It is reported that NC president Sher Bahadur Deuba has assured Upendra Yadav to support him in Bara. Yet, the party has recommended Radhe Chandra Yadav as NC candidate in Bara while Kushawa is also willing to contest the election. As Ram Sahay Yada had won the election with the backing of UML, it will not be that easy for Upendra to win the elections if he is not backed by NC and the CPN (Maoist Centre).
Meanwhile, other Tarai-based parties though in the ruling coalition have united against Yadav. Parties like the Janamat Party of CK Raut, and the Loktantrik Samajwadi Party of Mahantha Thakur will apply every measure to prevent Upendra from entering the HoR. As such, it is not that easy for Upendra to win the election without receiving the support of the NC and the Maoist Centre. Likewise, it will not be that easy for other parties to defeat Lamichhane in Chitwan-2 considering the votes he got in the November election. Lamichhane got 49,300 votes while his opponents in combine got 29, 628 votes. A total of 74, 743 votes were cast in Chitwan, which means he got 65.9 per cent of the cast votes, the highest across the country. Although KP Oli of the CPN-UML was elected by garnering the highest votes in the November election, in terms of percentage Lamichhane surpassed Oli.
Oli garnered 52,319 votes and his closest rival Dr. Khagendra Adhikari got 23, 743 votes. However, Oli got only 55.7 per cent of the total valid votes.
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