Kathmandu — With former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba opting out, four other former prime ministers have entered the electoral fray for the upcoming House of Representatives elections.
CPN-UML Chairman and former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is contesting the election from Jhapa Constituency No. 5, a seat he also won in the 2079 BS general election. Jhapa-5 is once again shaping up as a high-profile constituency with heavyweight contenders.
Similarly, Nepali Communist Party (NCP) Coordinator and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ is contesting from Rukum East Constituency No. 1, the political heartland of the Maoist movement. In the previous election, Prachanda had been elected from Gorkha-2.
Former Prime Minister and NCP Co-Coordinator Madhav Kumar Nepal is preparing to file his candidacy from Rautahat Constituency No. 1, a constituency he also represented in the last House of Representatives election.
Likewise, former Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, patron of the Progressive Democratic Party, is set to contest from Gorkha Constituency No. 2. In the 2079 election, Bhattarai had supported Prachanda in this constituency instead of contesting himself.
In contrast, former Nepali Congress President and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has decided not to run in this election. Deuba, who had been continuously elected from Dadeldhura since the 2048 BS election, has stepped aside amid circumstances arising from the party’s special general convention and internal political developments.
Candidate nominations are being registered today in all 165 constituencies across the country under the first-past-the-post (direct) electoral system for the House of Representatives election scheduled for Falgun 21.
