As the bypolls draw close, the parties showed their strength organising rallies for the last time on Thursday. The silence period begins on Friday, and thereon, the political parties are not allowed to engage in electioneering.

The ruling coalition held rallies in Chitwan and Bara on Thursday. Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba, Prime Minister and Maoist Centre chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and key leaders of the alliance reached the constituencies in a bid to solicit votes for their common candidate—Upendra Yadav, the Janata Samajbadi Party chief. The Rastriya Swatantra Party also held a mass meeting in Chitwan, which was attended by the party’s key leaders. CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli addressed an election rally in Bara the same day.

Key leaders made big electoral promises.

In Bara, Prime Minister Dahal pledged to implement the Nijgadh International Airport project by laying its foundation stone soon. He promised to resolve citizenship issues, once and for all. “The citizenship issue is not only of Madhesh but of the entire nation. The problem will be solved permanently.”

Congress President Deuba praised Yadav in Bara. “He was in my Cabinet. We worked together. He often fought with me for the rights of Madhesh. He is a true leader of Madhesh.”

UML chair Oli in a separate rally in Bara claimed that the country would not prosper until the present coalition government was toppled. In a tone of sarcasm towards the ruling parties, especially the Congress, Oli said that no single party was in a condition to field their own candidates in Bara-2.

Addressing supporters in Chitwan-2, Rastriya Swatantra Party chair Rabi Lamichhane said all the forces had ganged up against the RSP as they were afraid of its overwhelming electoral success.

The by-elections, including in Tanahun-1, are going to see tough competition. The candidacies of political heavyweights and prominent personalities have drawn the country’s attention. An election fever has gripped the nation, although the commission is holding bypolls only in three constituencies on April 23.

The constituencies went vacant after Ramchandra Paudel, who got elected from Tanahun-1, and Ramshay Prasad Yadav, who had won from Bara-2, resigned their lawmaker positions after getting elected as President and Vice President, respectively. The constituency of Chitwan-2 was vacant after the Supreme Court invalidated the citizenship certificate of Rabi Lamichhane, who had won the seat in the November elections.

The key leaders of the ruling coalition were in Tanahun on Wednesday for the campaign, urging voters to elect their candidates.

Noted politicians and personalities such as Janata Samajbadi Party Chairman Upendra Yadav, Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane, Congress leader Govinda Bhattarai, economist Swarnim Wagle and retired police officers Sarbendra Khanal and Ramesh Kharel have thrown their hats in the ring. Similarly, local leaders such as former minister Purushottam Paudel of the UML and Shiv Chandra Kushwaha of the Janamat Party in Bara, and district leaders Jit Narayan Shrestha of the Nepali Congress and Ram Prasad Neupane of the UML are also in fray.

The ruling Maoist Centre has not fielded candidates in any of the three constituencies and is supporting the common candidates of the ruling coalition in all three seats.

In Tanahun-1, economist Wagle is contesting against Govinda Bhattarai of the Nepali Congress and UML’s Sarbendra Khanal. Wagle had ditched the Congress and joined the Rastriya Swatantra Party just last month. Nepali Congress leaders have apparently made the byelections a matter of prestige.

In Chitwan-2, Rastriya Swatantra Party chair Rabi Lamichhane is contesting against Jit Narayan Shrestha from the Nepali Congress, and Ram Prasad Neupane, the district chapter chair of the UML. Lamichhane had won last year’s polls, defeating Umesh Shrestha of the Nepali Congress and Krishna Bhakta Pokharel of the UML.

Similarly, Upendra Yadav is contesting against Janamat Party’s Shiv Chandra Kushwaha and UML’s Purushottam Paudel in Bara-2. The Rastriya Swatantra Party has fielded Ramesh Kharel, a former DIG of Nepal Police, from the constituency.