Twenty Five contesting HoR election in Sunsari-4

Jayakrishna Yadav  

Inaruwa, October 21: Minister for Communication and Information Technology and Nepali Congress central member Gyanendra Bahadur Karki is contesting the election to the House of Representatives from Sunsari-4 again. He was elected to the HoR from the same constituency in 2017 by defeating common candidate of left alliance Ramesh Shrestha.

Karki had garnered 32,347 votes while his nearest rival Shrestha of the UML got 25,750 votes. Then UML and the Maoist Centre had forged an electoral alliance, and Shrestha of the UML was a common candidate.

This time, 25 candidates are in fray in the constituency and Karki is the common candidate from the ruling alliance—NC, CPN Maoist Centre, CPN (Unified Socialist) and Rastriya Janamorcha. 

The area of Sunsari-4 is believed to be a stronghold of Nepali Congress. NC candidates were elected chiefs in all three rural municipalities and one municipality of the area in the local elections held in May this year. 

Meanwhile, Shrestha is politically inactive now. After forging alliance with Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal, UML has fielded its central member Jagdish Prasad Kusiyeit, as a common candidate of the opposition alliance.

Likewise, Vidhyanand Yadav from the RPP, Arjun Prasad Bhattarai from Nepal Workers and Pheasants’ Party, Kumar Rai from CPN Maoist Samajwadi, Gulavchan Musahar from Janata Pragatisheel Party, Kunjilal Yadav from Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Nepal, Dambar Bahadur Ghimire from Nepali Party for Nepal, Devram Yadav from Janamat Party, Mohammad Siddiqi Miya from the Loktantrik Federal Democratic National, Satya Narayan Ram from RPP-Nepal, Jeevan Kumar Shrestha from National Independent Party, Gopal Nepal from Ekikrit Shakti Nepal are contesting the election in the constituency.  Similarly, independent candidates Dr. Khalid Hussain Haq, Kumar Rai, Abdullah Ansari, Keshav Uraw, Sameer Mansuri, Shyam Prasad Dhakal, Manoj Kumar Mandal, Bidhyanand Prasad Sah, Baleshwar Yadav, Fekanram Mochi, Dhiraj Verma, Dilli Bahadur Bista, and Keshav Karki are also in fray.

All competitors except for Minister Karki are new faces. Earlier in the 2017 election, 16 candidates were in fray. Interestingly, no female candidate is contesting the election to HoR from this constituency where there are 128,065 voters with 68,507 males and 59,558 females.

Similarly, in Provincial Assembly, Sadananda Mandal from the Nepali Congress, Parshuram Basnet from Janata Samajwadi Party, Rajkumar Sahu Teli from RPP, Indra Bahadur Limbu from Federal Democratic National Forum, Shivbati Tharuni from Federal Samajwadi Party of Nepal, Dip Bahadur Katuwal from RPP Nepal, Narendra Bahadur Basnet from Our Nepali Party, Nunulal Uraw from Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Ramchandra Sutihar Verma from Janata Pragatisheel Party, and Visheshwar Sada from Nepal Democratic Party are candidates in Constituency-4 (A). Raju Mandal, Ravin Rai and Baburam Baral are independent candidates.

Likewise, Dr. Israil Mansuri from Nepali Congress, Abbas Ansari of the  CPN-UML from the alliance of the UML and JSP-N, Abbas Miya from the Federal Democratic National Forum, Chandan Mehta from RPP, Tunma Khatun from CPN-Maoist Socialist, Satyadev Ram from RPP-Nepal, Shivnarayan Kumar Padit from Our Nepali Party, Santosh Mehta from Democratic Socialist Party, Harikumar Mehta from Janamat Party, and Hafaz Miya, Raghunath Mahato Koiri, Nausad Ansari and Jabar Miya are independent candidates for Constituency-4 (B).