Succeeded in saving Congress’ reputation, Sita says: ‘The victory was not easy’

KATHMANDU: Sita Gurung, who was elected to the House of Representatives (HoR) from the Tehrathum district, faced two challenges while running for election her.

First, there were two factions within the Tehrathum Congress. As a result, she had a difficult time winning the election. Another concern was that, as the contestant was a man, she was worried about being defeated as men would receive more votes than women.

Gurung, a Congress central member close to Prime Minister and President Sher Bahadur Deuba, was a proportional member after the 2064/2070 Constituent Assembly elections. She was also the State Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport.

According to the ruling coalition’s working group criteria, Bhawani Prasad Khapung of the CPN-S won the 2074 election and previously served as a minister from that region. Khapung was with Sita. But defeating Bijay Subba of the CPN-UML was another challenge.

Sita was defeated in the 2074 election by the CPN’s then-candidate, Bhawani Khapung by a narrow margin. The Congress candidate appeared to have a difficult time winning the election in Tehrathum. Sita appeared to be in for a tough tussle against UML Central Election Commission Chairperson Subba, who had previously won direct elections twice and once from the proportional list.

Finally, Nepali Congress leader Sita Gurung, the candidate of the Left Democratic Alliance, was elected to the HoR by a margin of 1,079 votes over CPN-UML’s Bijay Subba. Gurung garnered 19,702 votes.

Her closest competitor, UML candidate Subba, secured 18,623 votes. Since 2015, only candidates from the Limbu community have won central parliamentary elections in Tehrathum. Sita, on the other hand, broke the mold by becoming the first woman to win a direct election to the House of Representatives. She has managed to preserve not only Tehrathum’s credibility, but also that of the Nepali Congress, the country’s largest party.

In the House of Representatives elections, the Nepali Congress nominated candidates in 91 constituencies. Nepali Congress has won 54 seats so far and is leading by one. However, only one seat was won by a female candidate. Although the results of Bajura, Dolakha, and Syangja are still pending, the Congress has no female candidates.

What does Gurung say?

Gurung claims that winning is not easy for her. He claims that the alliance’s situation is different than expected and that there will be many obstacles for women to run for office.

‘I am delighted to have won the election,’ she says. It was far from easy for me to win. There are times when saying everything is impossible. The people of Tehrathum have entrusted me with this responsibility. ‘I will make their dreams come true.’

But she also said that there are many challenges in fulfilling the responsibilities given by the people.

‘My attention has gone to work to protect the opinion given by the people by trusting me,’ she added. I accepted more responsibility than victory. Now, my focus will be on developing the district, improving health and education, and working in accordance with the wishes of the people.

As Tehrathum is a remote district, it will be my first priority to prioritize the roads here. Furthermore, there is talk of increasing female participation. There is a plan to beautify the entire Tehrathum district.’

What is the condition of women in the country?

Looking at the election results across the country, only 9 women have been elected.

Bidya Bhattarai, Juli Kumari Mahato, Jwala Kumari Shah and Bhagwati Chaudhary are elected members of the House of Representatives from UML.

Second, two women from the Rastriya Swatantra Party were elected to the HoR. Rastriya Swatantra Party members include Toshima Karki and Sovita Gautam.

Sita Gurung is the only woman from the Nepali Congress who has been elected directly to the HoR.

The CPN-Maoist Center’s Rekha Sharma and Nagarik Unmukti Party’s Ranjita Shrestha were elected.

-Gyanu Ghimire/MK