In January, when the federal government considered amending the electoral law to increase the minimum vote percentage needed to secure seats under the proportional representation system, Madhesh-based parties tried to form a loose alliance and counter a possible raise of the bar.

However, in a matter of months, a rift has appeared in the alliance with dispute over which party’s candidate is to be fielded in the Rupandehi-3 by-election scheduled for November 3.

The regional forces, which have seen several unifications and splits in the past, had been trying to reunite since last January.

Advocating for an alliance, they claimed that the major parties were trying to sideline smaller forces and impose a ‘two-party dominance’. While they wanted to form a strong alliance to challenge the mainstream parties, the initiative faltered and eventually broke down.

Following the death of Rastriya Prajatantra Party lawmaker Deepak Bohara on April 1, the Election Commission recently announced a by-election in the constituency. Both Janamat Party and Nagarik Unmukti Party, which are part of the Madheshi alliance, have staked their claim to the vacant seat.

Within the alliance, the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal led by Upendra Yadav, the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party led by Mahantha Thakur, the Janata Pragatisheel Party led by Hridayesh Tripathi, and the Rastriya Mukti Kranti led by Rajendra Mahato had agreed to support the candidate of the Nagarik Unmukti Party. However, the Janamat Party led by CK Raut insisted on fielding its own candidate.

In response, senior leaders such as Mahantha Thakur, Hridayesh Tripathi, and Rajendra Mahato have attempted to persuade CK Raut to reconsider. Despite their efforts, Raut had remained firm on his decision to field his party’s candidate in the Rupandehi-3 federal parliament seat.

A meeting of the Madhesh-based parties on Tuesday decided to support the candidate of the Nagarik Unmukti Party. No Janamat Party representative was present at the meeting.

Keshav Jha, a leader of Rastriya Mukti Kranti, confirmed that the meeting of the Madhesh-based parties on Tuesday decided to support the Nagarik Unmukti candidate.

Leaders had tried to convince Raut on this matter, Jha said.

Ranjita Shrestha, chairperson of the Nagarik Unmukti Party, confirmed Jha’s claim that the Janamat Party will field its own candidate in the by-election.

Janamat and Nagarik Unmukti are the two parties whose unification process collapsed at the final stage.

A formal declaration of their unity was scheduled to be made on April 30 at the Nepal Academy in Kathmandu after rounds of dialogue between the leaders of the two parties. However, the process was disrupted at the last moment due to the arrest of Nagarik Unmukti patron Resham Chaudhary, based on an ‘unauthorised arrest warrant’ issued from a Supreme Court official.

Chaudhary was arrested from the venue where the merger announcement was due to happen with prominent leaders from both sides present there, but was released after a few hours.

The question that arises is: how did the Janamat Party, which holds six seats in the federal parliament, and the Nagarik Unmukti Party, which holds four, agree on party unification some time ago but are unable to agree on a common candidate now?

Nagarik Unmukti chair Shrestha claimed that she was informed about the party unification only at the final stage, and she holds the Janamat Party more responsible than her own for the feud between the regional parties.

“Unification between the two parties is now off the table,” Shrestha said.

Meanwhile, Abdul Khan, vice-chair of Janamat Party, said the Madeshi alliance was focussed on constitutional amendment, and that it had no other objective.

Emphasising that his party is ready to cooperate with Madhesh-based parties on matters related to constitutional amendment, he clarified that on other issues, the Janamat Party reserves the right to make independent decisions.

“As there is currently no possibility of unification with Nagarik Unmukti, our party decided to field our own candidate despite the Madhesh-centric parties supporting Nagarik Unmukti,” Khan said.

Both Janamat and Nagarik Unmukti parties have said internal discussions have yet to take place regarding the candidate.