24 Candidates Vie for Parliamentary Seat in Kavrepalanchok-2 Election

Kavrepalanchok. Twenty-four candidates, including a veteran contender, are competing in the upcoming House of Representatives election in Constituency No. 2 of the district. The District Election Office stated that nominations have been registered for 24 individuals, comprising 16 political parties and eight independent candidates.

The House of Representatives Constituency No. 2 will witness an electoral contest between established and new political parties. This election in the constituency will see competition among the CPN-UML, Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre), Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), along with independent candidates.

In the House of Representatives Election-2079, CPN-UML's Gokul Baskota won the first-past-the-post contest by securing 45,345 votes. In the proportional representation category of the same election, CPN-UML ranked first, Nepali Congress second, RSP third, and CPN (Maoist Centre) fourth.

This time, the District Chief Election Officer's office has reported that Ashok Kumar Byanju (54), a central member of CPN-UML; Madhu Prasad Acharya (61), a central member of the Nepali Congress; Badan Kumar Bhandari (33) from RSP; and Basundhara Humagain (55) from CPN (Maoist Centre) have registered their candidacies.

Byanju, who is also the Mayor of Dhulikhel Municipality, stated that he filed his candidacy with the objective of contributing to building a prosperous nation by reforming the political system according to societal vision and current needs.

Nepali Congress candidate Acharya said he filed his candidacy to build a corruption-free society with good governance in line with the aspirations of the youth and to provide direct service to the people by ending partisanship. In this constituency, Rajesh Kumar Shrestha, a leader from Congress in Panauti, has filed a rebel candidacy against the party's official nominee.

Similarly, RSP has nominated Bhandari with the aim of leading the younger generation. Bhandari mentioned that he filed his candidacy to establish good governance in the country, end policy-level corruption, and address the demands of Gen Z.

Humagain, the candidate from CPN (Maoist Centre), previously served as the Minister of Agriculture for Bagmati Province. He stated, "I have filed my candidacy to work in favor of good governance, a prosperous nation, happy Nepalis, the change sought by citizens, to address the demands of the new generation, and for the benefit of farmers, laborers, and the proletariat."

According to the Election Office, three female candidates—from two parties and one independent—are in the competition out of the 24. This time, no Dalit candidates are contesting the election, while 25 candidates are from the Janajati community. Kavrepalanchok has 326,611 voters. The office reported that 161,100 voters are in Constituency No. 1 and 165,511 voters are registered in Constituency No. 2.