Candidates Vie for Votes in Parsa Constituency-3 Amidst Tight Electoral Race

Birgunj. Various party and independent candidates are striving to win the trust of voters in Parsa Constituency-3 for the House of Representatives election. Twenty-three candidates are competing in this constituency.

In the 2079 election, Rajkumar Gupta of CPN-UML was elected in this constituency, securing 24,319 votes. Despite the alliance with the Maoist Centre and the Unified Socialist Party, Nepali Congress candidate Surendra Prasad Chaudhary was defeated, limited to 24,105 votes.

Furthermore, in the proportional representation category for this constituency, Nepali Congress emerged as the leading party with 17,443 votes. UML received 15,254 votes in PR. Here, the Unified Socialist Party got 3,846 votes and the Maoist Centre received 3,141 votes. RSP only secured 1,364 votes in the proportional representation.

In the upcoming election, the Congress has put forward Chaudhary again as its candidate, while UML has nominated Rupesh Kumar Pandey. In this area, the Nepal Communist Party has nominated Chhotelal Prasad Yadav, the Rastriya Swatantra Party has nominated Ramakanta Prasad Chaurasiya, and the RPP has nominated Navin Kumar Singh.

Similarly, the Janata Samajbadi Party has put forward Nagendra Prasad Yadav, the Ujyalo Nepal Party has nominated Ramrup Prasad Sah, and the Janmat Party has nominated Malti Kumari Kushwaha.

In the previous election, RSP candidate Ashok Kadel received only 923 votes in this constituency. However, the wave for RSP in this election appears more encouraging compared to the last one, so RSP cannot be underestimated. Given the low votes received by RSP in both direct and proportional representation in the last election, it seems they will have to struggle significantly to secure favorable results despite the widespread wave.

In this constituency, the organizational strength and organized votes of the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML are stronger compared to other parties. Therefore, the main competition is anticipated to be between these two parties.

Chaudhary of the Congress is a veteran leader. However, his success rate is weak. Chaudhary still faces considerable challenges due to internal strife and factional politics.

Pandey of the UML is comparatively younger and is aiming to win this time on the strength of a strong organization. He has put forward plans such as ensuring the availability of quality fertilizer and seeds under agricultural modernization, providing training on modern technology, and transforming traditional farming into commercial fruit, vegetable, and livestock farming.

Improving health services is another agenda for Pandey, under which he has proposed plans to equip ward-level health institutions, strengthen the Pokhariya District Hospital, and develop a digital and technology-friendly health system.

Pandey has also put forward the agenda of quality and skill-based education. He has presented his agenda to the voters, prioritizing school sanitation, student-parent-teacher interaction, skill-based education, and extracurricular activities (debates, sports, etc.).

Under employment and entrepreneurship, Pandey has proposed plans to facilitate established industrialists in setting up industries and to operate self-employment and skill-based training for the youth using local resources.

Under sustainable infrastructure development, his agenda includes constructing basic structures like roads, bridges, drainage, and electricity, and strictly implementing transparency, quality, and timely completion in development works.

Pandey stated, "I have also committed to bringing the problems of the voters to the parliament and policy-making level, and to developing an accountable system through public hearings and continuous dialogue."

Nepali Congress candidate Chaudhary stated that in his long political career, he has closely observed and understood the problems of the entire Parsa district, especially Constituency-3, and claimed his role in solving them would be strong. However, his main challenge appears to be retaining his party's organized vote base rather than competing for the general voter base.

Chaurasiya, nominated by RSP, is a leader with a political background in the Nepali Congress. Chaurasiya, who left Congress and joined RSP, has a strong possibility of drawing votes away from Congress in the upcoming election. Therefore, before competing for votes with UML candidate Pandey, Chaudhary seems to have to struggle significantly to prevent Congress votes from going in favor of RSP candidate Chaurasiya. Moreover, due to the dissatisfaction among Congress workers from the Sher Bahadur Deuba and Shekhar Koirala factions following the selection of new leadership in the special general convention of the Congress, it is difficult for Congress to gain the full support and backing of the entire party rank and file.

The Nepal Communist Party has little influence in this constituency. Other parties and independent candidates do not seem to have created a major wave either. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that UML candidate Pandey might secure the result in his favor based on his strong organization.

Parsa-3 comprises 35 wards. Paterwasuguali, Sakhuwaprasauni, Bindabasini, Jagarnathpur, Pakhahaimainpur rural municipalities, and Pokhariya and Bahudarimai municipalities fall within this area.

Despite being an area connected to the district headquarters, there is still a shortage of drinking water, adequate roads, drainage, quality schools, and industries/factories here. Because of this, the general public has to travel to Birgunj, and even to other places like Kathmandu, for daily work.