Jajarkot Election Battleground: Veteran Leader Shakti Basnet Faces Unprecedented Internal Dissent and Public Scrutiny Over Development

Surkhet. Following the filing of candidacies on Magh 6, a debate was held among the candidates in Khalanga, the district headquarters of Jajarkot, on Magh 8. During the debate, Prem Gautam, a district committee member of the Maoist party (now CPN), severely criticized his own party's candidate, Shakti Bahadur Basnet.

“I am a district committee member of the CPN, we have won many times, and we even made him a minister, but he hasn't improved anything in Jajarkot, nor has he made things worse,” Gautam said angrily towards Basnet, “Where is the prosperity in Jajarkot? Where is the progress?”

Gautam continued, “Shouldn't there be a generational shift? Aren't there others in the CPN? Why does he have to come forward time and again? He is a candidate again, we will elect him again, but what has he done for Jajarkot now?”

As he stated, Shakti Basnet, who has won elections multiple times and become a minister, is not only facing widespread questioning within his own party in Jajarkot, but responsible leaders are also leaving the party. Ganesh Singh, former district in-charge of the Maoist party in Jajarkot and a former minister in Karnali, has already left the party.

Not only within the party, but the general public and leaders and cadres of other parties are also publicly commenting that despite always being close to power, Basnet has failed to deliver qualitative work in the areas of development and prosperity in Jajarkot.
 
“Stop the candidate in Sirke, Nalgad Municipality-5.” Youths from that village recently obstructed candidate Basnet from entering the village, alleging that despite repeatedly asking for votes and winning elections, he failed to build a bridge over the river in time. 

According to Vishal Singh, a youth from Sirke, the bridge planned over the Nalgad River, situated between Sirke and Barekot Rural Municipality-8, Laikham, has been stalled for four and a half years. Although the agreement was signed in Shrawan 2078 with a completion target of Shrawan 2082, no work has progressed on the bridge yet.

The construction of the bridge, costing 3 crore 9 lakh rupees from the provincial government, has been awarded to a contractor company named Mega Sisne JV.

Singh, who is also the coordinator of JCN Nalgad, issued a press release stating, “They repeatedly win elections by showing agendas of bridges, roads, education, health, and employment, but after winning, they did not pay attention to bridge construction even when begged.” The suspension bridge at that location is in a dilapidated condition. Singh mentions that three people have already lost their lives by falling while crossing the dilapidated bridge.

In that village, youths have currently banned not only CPN candidate Basnet but also the mayor and candidates from other parties from entering. A video of candidates being blocked from entry has gone viral on social media.

A small example clearly illustrates the state of physical development in Jajarkot. Jajarkot is a district that has participated in every cabinet since 2064 BS. Shakti Basnet served as the Minister of Forest, Energy, and Home Minister, winning elections from here. Despite Basnet serving as the Energy Minister for a long time, only 26 percent electrification has been achieved in Jajarkot. Furthermore, there is a complaint against him for not taking initiative in the reconstruction of the district, which was affected by the Jajarkot earthquake in Kartik 2080.

“If he had done good work for the prosperity of Jajarkot, the public mandate would have increased, right?” says a Maoist leader, “The statistics show that our public mandate has been decreasing in every election.”

In the 2079 House of Representatives election, although Basnet won the direct contest, looking at the proportional votes, the Maoist position is limited to third place. The Congress received the highest proportional votes with 22,934, while the UML received 19,749, and the Maoist received 14,412 votes. In the provincial assembly proportional representation, the UML is first, Congress is second, and the Maoist is third. 

In the previous election, there was an alliance between the Maoist and Congress. Basnet of the Maoist, who received the support of the Congress, was elected with 34,151 votes in the direct contest, while his rival Niraj Acharya of the UML secured 25,120 votes alone. It was analyzed that if the electoral competition had been individual, the election would have been tough for Basnet. This is because most of the votes Basnet received belonged to the Congress.

In the 2079 local level elections, Basnet's home municipality, Bheri Municipality, was won by the UML. Among the 7 local levels, only Nalgad Municipality was won by the Maoist. The remaining 3 local levels each were won by the UML and Congress. Even in 2074, although Basnet of the Maoist won the direct contest for the House of Representatives, Congress was the first party in terms of proportional votes. 

Will Shakti's Power Face a 'Break Down'?

Despite the party weakening in every election, Basnet is the CPN candidate for the upcoming House of Representatives election in Falgun. Having won elections three times in 2070, 2074, and 2079, he initially told district leaders and cadres that he would not be a candidate, but in the end, Prachanda handed him the ticket. Leaders like Ganesh Singh and Ramdeep Acharya were aspirants from the CPN.

This issue is causing controversy within the Jajarkot CPN. On the Congress side, Khadga Bahadur Buda, from the UML Dambar Bahadur Singh, from the RPP Raghav Karki, and 11 other candidates are in the electoral field. However, the electoral competition is analyzed to be mainly between Basnet, Singh, and Buda.

In the electoral clash, which is happening individually for the first time since federalism, Congress and UML are strategizing to 'break down' the power of 'heavyweight' leader Shakti Basnet. Especially due to the large public mandate, Buda of the Congress is expected to compete closely with Basnet.

Buda was defeated in the election for the post of Shivalaya Rural Municipality Chairman in 2074. Nevertheless, he is a young leader known among the youth in the district. Emerging from student politics, he has served as the district vice-president and acting president of the party.
 
He is seen as a strong candidate capable of competing with Shakti Basnet in Jajarkot. Vedraj Singh, the President of Congress Jajarkot, states that Congress is entering the electoral field united in Jajarkot. Buda is the candidate from the western region. Except for him, almost all other candidates are from eastern Jajarkot. 

So far, except for the elections in 2056 and 2048, no leader born in the western geography has won an election. Instead, some leaders from eastern Jajarkot have won elections after coming to the west. It is assessed that Buda might gain an advantage from the sympathy of western Jajarkot and the attacks from within the CPN against Basnet. 

“Congress has the strength to break down Basnet one way or another in Jajarkot,” says a Congress leader, “If the political votes in the east of Congress remain stable and they secure good votes from the west, it cannot be said that the scales won't tip in our favor.”

Meanwhile, there is talk that the UML has fielded a weak candidate. UML candidate Singh is the oldest among the competitors in terms of age. He was defeated in the 2070 Constituent Assembly and in the 2079 Provincial Assembly (A).

It was speculated that the electoral battle in Jajarkot would have been more interesting if the young leader Niraj Acharya had received the ticket instead of him, because in the previous election, Acharya alone put up a tough fight against Basnet of the Maoist, who had the support of the Congress.

Candidate Singh is a former teacher, but in recent times, he mostly resides in the capital. However, this time he claims to be breaking the continuous syndicate of the Maoist party.

Although Congress and UML have devised strategies to weaken CPN candidate Basnet's strength, Basnet is confident of winning the election.

“We are strong in all aspects; proportional votes alone do not hold much significance,” says a leader, “Our public mandate is strong in terms of wards and everything else. Since the Maoist has been winning every election since 2064, the credit for the development in Jajarkot also goes to us, so the victory will be in our favor.”

Jajarkot's Electoral History

Until the 2070 election, Jajarkot had two constituencies for the House of Representatives. In the elections from 2048 to 2056, the electoral competition was between the UML and Congress. However, after the Maoist joined the peace process, the Maoist gained dominance.

In 2048, Dwarka Prasad Pradhan of Congress won in Constituency No. 1, while Krishna Shahi of UML won in Constituency No. 2. Similarly, in the 2051 mid-term election, Jhalak Nath Wagle of Congress won in Constituency 1, and Deepak Jung Shah of Congress also won in Constituency 2.

In 2056, Govinda Bikram Shah from RPP won in Constituency No. 1. In Constituency No. 2, Ratna Sharma of UML won. During the time of the armed conflict, Jajarkot was also a base area. The Maoist, emerging from the heat of the war, established its dominance after the 60s.

In 2064, Kal Bahadur Malla of the Maoist won from Constituency No. 1, and Bhakta Bahadur Shahi won from Constituency No. 2. In 2070, Shakti Basnet of the Maoist won from Constituency No. 1, while Rajeev Bikram Shah of Congress won in Constituency No. 2. 

After the state restructuring, Jajarkot became a single electoral constituency. The Maoist won both subsequent elections. In terms of the House of Representatives, the last time Congress won after the peace process was in Constituency No. 2 in 2070. However, the UML has not been able to make a comeback. 

Basnet of the Maoist won both the 2074 and 2079 elections. In 2079, Basnet was elected with 34,151 votes, while Niraj Acharya of the UML received 25,120 votes. 

Jajarkot has a voter population of 107,091. However, since most citizens are currently working abroad, from the hills to third countries, it is estimated that only about 60 percent of votes will be cast in the upcoming election.