Dang. Dang Constituency No. 2 is likely to witness the election of the House of Representatives on March 4.

CPN-UML’s General Secretary Shankar Pokhrel is in the fray for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, while CPN-UML’s Pokharel, Nepali Congress’s Kiran Kishor Ghimire, Rastriya Swatantra Party’s Bipin Kumar Acharya and Nirmal Acharya of the Nepali Communist Party are in the fray.

CPN-UML candidate Pokharel will be the party’s central general secretary while NC candidate Ghimire will be the central department member. Similarly, the Acharya duo of Rastriya Swatantra Party and NCP are joint general secretaries and central members respectively.

The election atmosphere in Dang-2 has become interesting with four candidates from major political parties in the fray. The wave of welcome, support, love and joining the party from the people during the door-to-door campaign has created an election atmosphere in favor of CPN-UML candidate Pokharel amidst intense competition.

In the 2017 elections, the then CPN (Maoist Centre) leader Rekha Sharma had defeated Pokharel by a slim margin of 193 votes with the support of Nepali Congress and the then CPN (S) with 26,880 votes. Pokharel had garnered 26,687 votes while Bishal Adhikari of Rastriya Samajwadi Party had received 15,861 votes.

Sharma, who was the common candidate from the alliance of NC, CPN (Maoist Center) and CPN-S, was given a tough challenge by the UML. Under the proportional representation category, UML became the first party with 23,568 votes. In the proportional representation category, NC had bagged 19,591 votes, Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) 13,033 and then CPN (Maoist Centre) 10,802 votes.

Since there is no alliance among any parties at present and the CPN-Maoist has supported the Biplav-led CPN-Maoist, if the UML can save only its proportional vote votes, it seems that General Secretary Pokhrel can easily win the results in his favor.

Pokharel’s popularity at the local level and his influence in national politics has also improved in this area. UML cadres and supporters are confident of Pokharel’s victory as youths from different parties have joined the UML.

He is being taken as a candidate who can play a good role at the national level from solving local problems. During the door-to-door campaign, he has also closely understood the problems of the village, including motorable roads, drinking water, schools, health services and the happiness and sorrow of the locals.

Pokharel’s commitment has given new hope to the residents of this area who have been tired of getting assurances since the past. General Secretary Pokharel has been taken as the only candidate who can resolve the incomplete development works and problems faced by the people. Pokharel is ahead of other contenders in the election campaign.