New faces, old promises in Morang-3 race

By Hari Prasad Koirala,Urlabari (Morang), Feb. 5: Most candidates contesting the House of Representatives elections in Morang constituency No. 3 are new faces, but they are seeking votes on issues that are nearly four decades old. They are now campaigning door to door with long-standing agendas that remain unresolved.

Due to repeated political changes, residents of the former Village Development Committees (VDCs) of Pathari, Sanischare, Bayarban and Keroune have seen their electoral boundaries shift four times, sometimes falling under constituency No. 2 and at other times under No. 3.

Despite changes in administrative structures and addresses, chronic problems such as the landless squatters' issue and dual land ownership remain unresolved.

The former Pathari and Sanischare VDCs -- home to the district’s highest number of landless and informal settlers -- were merged with Hasandaha VDC to form Pathari Sanischare Municipality. 

Similarly, Bayarban, Keroune and Hoklabari were merged to form Kanepokhari Rural Municipality. The VDCs became municipalities and rural municipalities, and ward boundaries changed, but longstanding problems persisted.

Under the multi-party system, Bharat Mohan Adhikari and Lalbabu Pandit were elected from the current Morang-3 constituency. So far, seven commissions have been formed in the name of resolving the landless squatters' problem, but no one has been able to distribute land ownership certificates. 

As a result, voters’ first question to candidates campaigning door to door remains the same: When will land ownership certificates be issued?

Except for Nepali Congress candidate Dr. Sunil Kumar Sharma, all candidates contesting in Morang-3 are new faces. Sharma is the incumbent lawmaker. During the 2017 elections, then CPN-UML candidate Bhanubhakta Dhakal had said he would not seek votes in the 2022 election, citing the landless settlers’ issue. 

Dhakal, who was the joint candidate of the then UML and Maoist Centre, won the election and later served as minister for health, law and tourism in the KP Sharma Oli-led government. 

However, public anger over his failure to resolve the landless settlers’ issue despite serving as minister three times was reflected in the 2022 election, in which he lost to Sunil Sharma by a margin of 22,636 votes. Among Nepal’s 165 federal constituencies, Morang-3 is considered one of the CPN-UML’s safest seats.

Morang-3 comprises four municipalities and one rural municipality, covering 26 wards. Linked to the East-West Highway, the constituency includes densely populated urban areas and a large number of landless settlements. 

It includes Ward Nos. 1 and 8 to 12 of Sundarharaicha Municipality, Ward Nos. 1 to 4 and 8 to 11 of Belbari Municipality, Ward Nos. 1 to 4 and 7 to 10 of Pathari Sanischare Municipality and Ward Nos. 1 to 4 of Kanepokhari Rural Municipality.

With 158,057 registered voters, the constituency has 21 candidates in the electoral race. The Nepali Congress has fielded Dr. Sunil Kumar Sharma again after his victory in the previous election. Sharma said he had planned to complete all remaining work by 2024, but the mid-term election forced him to seek another mandate. 

He claimed that his commitments were 70 per cent fulfilled, adding that an additional 3,000 people would have received land ownership certificates if not for what he called a 'Gen Z rebellion'.

The CPN-UML has fielded Iren Kumar Rai, who comes from a literary background. Rai expressed confidence that the UML would once again win in what he described as its traditional stronghold. 

He said the party’s main agenda includes construction of the Tamor-Chisankhu diversion project to permanently address irrigation problems, establishment of agro-industries, and beautification of the East-West Highway and completion of unfinished land-related reforms.

Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) candidate Ganesh Karki is campaigning on agendas of good governance, resolving past corruption cases, punishing those found guilty, ensuring a permanent solution to the landless settlers’ issue, cancelling fake land certificates and issuing genuine certificates to rightful owners, and promoting sustainable use of natural resources.

NCP candidate Dr. Deuman Sambahamphe is also contesting with agendas focused on a lasting solution to the landless settlers’ problem, management of land with dual ownership and protection of rights guaranteed by the 2015 Constitution. He said the NCP would win as other parties had failed to institutionalise national agendas such as federalism, proportional representation and republicanism.

Ujyalo Party Nepal candidate Mitra Sen Yonjan is seeking votes with promises to make electricity, health care and education free, and to take action against corrupt individuals immediately after forming a government. He claimed that generating 50,000 megawatts of electricity would ensure sufficient resources for all.

Altogether, 21 candidates are contesting in Morang constituency No. 3.