Election climate warms up in Nepal’s Jhapa as former  Kathmandu mayor Balen challenges deposed PM Oli

KATHMANDU, Feb 9:  Weeks ahead of the March 5 general election, Jhapa constituency in eastern Nepal has been hogging much of the limelight with former Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah ‘Balen’ taking on the deposed prime minister K P Sharma Oli.

On Sunday alone, Balen, popular rapper-turned-politician, and the prime ministerial face of the Rastriya Swotantra Party (RSP), reached the Jhapa-5 constituency in Koshi province while Oli, the chair of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist—Leninist) — CPN-UML — already reached their two days ago to launch door-to-door campaign to woo voters.

Oli has won parliamentary elections from Jhapa district six times out of seven in the past. In the last election, he defeated Nepali Congress candidate by a huge margin.

“However this time, the fight will be tougher for Oli, who was forced to resign during the Gen Z movement in September last year,” said Charan Prasai, senior rights activist, who is closely watching Nepalese politics.

The March 5 election was necessitated after Oli resigned on September 9 following violent protests by a youth-led Gen Z group against his government over corruption and a ban on social media.

Sushila Karki became the interim prime minister on September 12 and recommended to the president to dissolve the House of Representatives and hold general election on March 5.

This is the second time that Balen launched a campaign in Jhapa in as many weeks. “On Sunday alone, Balen visited at least a dozen places and met voters during the door-to-door campaign,” said RSP sources.

Balen ventured to choose Jhapa- 5, Oli’s stronghold, as he has already declared to directly take on the legacy party and aim for the top executive position of the country.

As electioneering gained momentum, security has been intensified in Jhapa district from where these two influential candidates are contesting, said Nepal Police sources.

Although there are candidates from other parties as well, the contest is mainly between Oli and Balen.

Other contestants include Mandhara Paudel from Nepali Congress, Ranjit Tamang from Nepali Communist Party and Laxmi Sangraula from Rastriya Prajatantra Party.  (PTI)