Elephant Menace Dominates Election Concerns for Voters in Nepal's Jhapa-1 Constituency

Jhapa. As the election nears, Sabita Puri of Tirhing, Mechinagar-1, is busy harvesting her mature mustard crop. She chose mustard as an alternative crop because elephants destroy other crops. According to her, mustard is now flourishing more on the village hillsides than grains because elephants do not eat it.

Not just Tirhing, which borders India, but the entire Bahundangi area spanning Mechinagar-1, 2, 3, and 4 shares the same concern and question that has persisted for four decades: 'How to protect life and crops from wild elephants?' For the residents here, who have suffered from the inability to protect food crops, fruits, and vegetables, mustard cultivation has become a viable alternative farming method safe from elephants.

As elsewhere, candidates in Nepal's Jhapa Constituency No. 1 are now reaching doorsteps carrying bags of promises for the House of Representatives election scheduled for the upcoming Falgun 21. The 1, 2, 3, and 4 wards of Mechinagar were part of the former Bahunidangi VDC before federalism. More than 22,000 voters here are currently expressing a common consensus: they will vote for whomever provides a solution to the elephant threat.

"Only one candidate has come so far; others will probably come too," said local Puri, moving aside a pile of mustard. "We will give this election's vote to whomever gives us a plan with the assurance of freeing us from the elephant menace," she added.

Candidates have changed in successive elections, and governments have changed, but the fate of Bahundangi remains the same, locals complain. The government has spent millions to install electric fencing to stop elephants crossing the Mechi River from India. However, according to locals, these fences have now become 'toys for elephants.' The elephants continue to break down the fences and enter the village.

Youth voter Pravesh Puri, who is studying in Grade 12, stated that although the country has seen many changes, the elephant problem in the village remains the same. He mentioned that every candidate who comes door-to-door seeking votes this time is being asked what 'satisfactory and long-term' plan they have to solve the elephant problem.

In Jhapa-1, 15 candidates, including 13 from political parties and two independents, are in the electoral race. The constituency has a total of 131,067 voters, with 10,692 new voters added. This area, which includes all 15 wards of Mechinagar, four wards of Buddhshanta, and two wards of Bhadrapur, has 43 polling stations and 145 polling centers designated.

There is no village in the geography of Jhapa-1 untouched by the fear of elephants, no ward where crops have not been damaged, and no municipality that has not lost relatives in elephant attacks. Puri stated that as the election approaches, voters here are waiting for 'implementable solutions' rather than the 'bundle of promises' distributed by leaders.