Fierce contest ensues as two heavyweight leaders meet head-on

Published On: October 27, 2017 03:00 AM NPT By: Janak KC

Rajeev Shah vs Shakti Basnet in constituency no. 1 of Jajarkot

JAJARKOT, Oct 27: In a much-anticipated election battle, former home minister Shakti Bahadur Basnet of the CPN (Maoist Center) is pitted against another well-known political leader, Rajeev Bikram Shah of the Nepali Congress (NC) in Jajarkot district.

Shah and Basnet are competing with each other in the parliamentary elections slated for November 26 from constituency no. 1 of Jajarkot district.

While Basnet has earned a reputation for himself in politics, Shah has made significant contributions to social work, especially by helping poor communities. The stark backgrounds of the two candidates have generated great anticipation and added to the election enthusiasm.

In the second Constituent Assembly (CA) election in 2013, Basnet contested and got elected from Jajarkot constituency-1 while Shah was elected from constituency 2. This time around, they are contesting from the same constituency.

The locals have huge hopes and expectations from both leaders and are divided between voting left alliance's Basnet and NC's Shah after both of them chose to contest from the same constituency.

Both Basnet and Shah are knaown to be leaders who would not fall for financial greed. Locals take both of them to be good leaders. Likewise, both of them have good access to government bodies and other agencies. Similarly, the individual influence and popularity of both the leaders are high in the district. Nobody is in a position to predict who among these two has greater chance for victory.

However, both the leaders are confident of their victory with Basnet stating that the voters would correctly evaluate his contribution to the development of Jajarkot locals while Shah noting that the voters would choose him as he has proven to be reliable and helpful during the difficulties of the locals.

On the other hand, CPN-UML's Niraj Acharya, an aspiring candidate is dissatisfied with his party's decision not to field him in the elections from constituency no. 1 to pave the way for Basnet. Acharya was assured of the candidacy until the UML forged an electoral alliance with the Maoist Center, with an added possibility of eventual party unification.