Ahead of March 5 election in Nepal, candidates begin campaigning

Meanwhile, in a separate programme in Kathmandu on Saturday, Nepali Congress president Gagan Thapa, who is also his partys prime ministerial candidate, said his party will work towards creating employment for youth within the country so that they need not have to go abroad for jobs.

Ahead of the March 5 election in Nepal, candidates, including former Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah 'Balen' and former premier Pushpakamal Dahal ''Prachanda'', have begun campaigning and visiting their constituencies. While Nepal's Election Commission on Friday allotted political parties 15 days to campaign starting from February 16, candidates are allowed to conduct door-to-door campaigns even before that date. Balen, 35, who is the prime ministerial candidate of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), is campaigning in Dadeldhura, Darchula, Achham and Baitadi districts of Sudur Paschim province and Dailekh, Surkhet and Kalikot of Karnali province as part of his election tour. The rapper-turned-politician, who is challenging ousted prime minister and Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) chair K P Sharma Oli in Jhapa-5 constituency, had earlier visited his ancestral district Dhanusha in Madhesh province and his constituency in Jhapa district of Koshi province. Balen returned to Kathmandu on Saturday after his two-week-long ''silent campaign'' in eastern and western Nepal districts. Balen's ''celebrity-like'' election campaign was unique, in a sense that he didn't usually speak to the voters formally or address the people. He just shook or waved his hands with people and rang a bell he carried in front of the crowd, signalling voters to cast their votes for his election symbol of 'Bell.' ''Wherever he goes, hundreds of people of all age groups including children, youth, women and senior citizens, greet him and come close to his car to catch a glimpse, take a 'selfie' and even ask for autographs,'' according to his party sources. They even chant slogans in his favour in a spontaneous manner, they said. As Balen remained engaged in meeting people in the streets of Sudur Paschim in west Nepal, his spouse Sabina Kafley was busy visiting door-to-door in Jhapa-5, his party sources said. In the past two weeks, Balen has visited at least 16 constituencies in eastern and western Nepal to meet various RSP candidates as well as voters. Meanwhile, Nepali Communist Party leader and former prime minister Pushpakamal Dahal 'Prachanda' on Saturday underscored the need to forge unity among communist parties ''to protect national sovereignty by defeating all types of conspiracies of reactionary forces and foreign elements''. He made the remarks while addressing an election-related meeting at the party's central office in Kathmandu. ''The upcoming election is happening in a special circumstance, I take this opportunity to save Nepal from the ongoing national crisis through the election,'' Prachanda said. ''We are moving forward with the determination of building new national forces for which we have unified more than 20 political groups to form the Nepali Communist Party,'' he said. ''Now I am running into 72 years and I will still have courage to struggle for the next few years,'' he said and added, ''those of you, who are around 40 have enough time and opportunities''. Meanwhile, in a separate programme in Kathmandu on Saturday, Nepali Congress president Gagan Thapa, who is also his party's prime ministerial candidate, said his party will work towards creating employment for youth within the country so that they need not have to go abroad for jobs. Both Prachanda and Thapa have returned to Kathmandu after visiting their election constituencies in Rukum East and Janakpur-4. ''If you cannot elect a reliable candidate or party in the election, the country will turn into a laboratory,'' warned Nepali Congress spokesperson Devraj Chalise speaking at another programme in the capital. He claimed that the Nepali Congress is moving forward with new faces, new programmes and policies, adding ''the party will never become obsolete (and) only individuals may become''. ''Out of 165 constituencies under the direct election, the Nepali Congress has presented 106 new faces,'' said Chalise. Separately, Nepal Vice President Ram Sahaya Yadav has said an environment should be created to ensure each and every voter can exercise their voting right in a free, fair and fearless manner. Speaking at a programme in Kathmandu, he said, ''An environment that guarantees free, fair and impartial election is the foundation of the federal democratic republic system.'' During the upcoming House of Representatives elections, a total of 18.9 million people are eligible to cast their votes to directly elect 165 members. Out of the total 275 members, 110 are elected to the Lower House through a proportional voting system. The general elections were necessitated after deposed prime minister K P Sharma Oli resigned on September 9, following violent protests by the youth-led Gen Z group against his government over corruption and a ban on social media. Sushila Karki, 73, became the interim prime minister on September 12 and on her recommendation, the president dissolved the House of Representatives and announced the election date.

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