Bibak Bibash Regmi
ITAHARI: Independent candidate Harka Sampang has been elected mayor of Dharan Sub Metropolitan City, delivering a blow to the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML which has governed this town of ex-servicemen since the 1990s.
With the victory, Sampang, who has been active in social causes in and around Dharan for the past many years, has sidelined the major political parties for at least five years.
Sampang received a total of 20,821 votes defeating Kishor Rai of Nepali Congress – a common candidate of five political parties – by a comfortable margin. Rai got 16,059 votes. Manju Bhandari of UML polled 12,825 votes.
Dharan is considered a stronghold of CPN-UML. UML candidates had won the mayoral post in Dharan in the election of 1992, 1997 and 2017. UML’s Tara Subba had won the mayoral election with a comfortable margin in 2017. However, Tilak Rai of Nepali Congress had won the post in the by-election after Subba’s demise in 2019.
Min Bishwakarma, a central committee member of the Nepali Congress and a Dharan resident, had earlier claimed that his party would win the election. “Lately, the popularity and credibility graph of the Nepali Congress has been rising at the central level. The big two parties are in the election alliance, also the rival party has an unpopular post. We have a strong basis to win the election," he had said.
Sampang’s victory has caught leaders of other parties by surprise. Dharan folks liked Sampang who reached their doorsteps without much fuss. He always draped the national flag around him and carried a cane – his election symbol.
Local people, however, are hopeful that their major issues will be addressed with Sampang’s victory. They say that the majority of people in the town voted for change as the incumbent leadership, elected after the 2019 by-polls, failed to address the city's drinking water woes.
Dharan has been reeling under drinking water shortage for a long time. Sampang had made finding a solution to the city’s drinking water crisis his main agenda in the election. He has been actively involved in the campaign for the improvement of BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences as well.
“This is the victory of the people of Dharan. The locals of Dharan voted, a local of Dharan won,” Sampang said, adding: “I am just a medium.” He said that Dharan Sub-metropolis will now work in the public interest with high ideals, integrity and discipline.
Some argue that Sampang won easily because major political parties did not field suitable candidates. Rajendra Sharma, an associate professor at Dharan-based Mahendra Campus and a political analyst, said people have voted for change because of the recent disillusionment with the parties. "He has been raising his voice against drinking water and encroachment of Sardu watershed area for a long time," Sharma added.
WHO IS SAMPANG?
A permanent resident of Dharan-18, Sampang (42) worked in a foreign country for a long time before returning home. His family is originally from Khotang district. Though he is actively involved in social campaigns, Sampang never carried party flags.
Sampang had contested in the 2019 by-election as well. But he went unnoticed in the election, as Dharan locals, who always elected communist leaders, voted for change by electing an NC leader for the post of mayor.
Sampang came to the notice of local people after he championed the cause of drinking water through his organization Dharan Concern Forum which he formed with Krishna Palikhe.
His election campaign was also unique. As he didn’t have the support of cadres like other political parties, he hired about half a dozen autorickshaws that would do the rounds of the city. These autorickshaws had his speeches playing on their sound system. Sampang would deliver speeches by the side of this autorickshaw even if there is only a handful of people around.
He was attacked by goons when he protested the smuggling of sand and aggregates from Seuti and Sardu rivers on June 9 last year. Despite this, he had given continuity to the campaign against river encroachment.-en.himalpress.com
