Pokhara, 9 March| In a resounding display of political change, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has achieved a clean sweep in all three constituencies of Kaski district. The final results of the House of Representatives election reveal a fascinating shift in voter behavior: the electorate has placed significantly more trust in the party’s brand—represented by the ‘Bell’ (Ghanthi) symbol—than in the individual candidates themselves. Data released by the Provincial Election Office in Pokhara shows that the total votes cast for the RSP in the Proportional Representation (PR) category exceeded the combined votes secured by their three winning candidates in the First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) system by 4,084 votes. Specifically, the RSP garnered 113,628 votes under the PR system, compared to the 109,544 votes won by its candidates in the direct election.
This electoral trend underscores a profound change in the psychology of voters in Kaski, who now seem to prioritize party ideology and organizational identity over individual candidates. The situation for established political parties like the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML presents a sharp contrast to the RSP’s success. In their case, the parties received significantly fewer votes in the PR category compared to the individual votes cast for their candidates in the direct elections. For instance, in Constituency No. 1, Congress candidate Tilak Bahadur Ranabhat secured 11,214 votes, while the party itself received only 10,778 votes under the PR system. This discrepancy suggests that while individual candidates of traditional parties may still hold some personal influence, the parties’ overall appeal is rapidly declining.
The RSP, however, outperformed its own candidates across all three Kaski constituencies in the PR category. In Constituency No. 1, while Khadakraj Poudel won the direct seat with 39,883 votes, the party secured 41,356 votes in the PR race. A similar trend was observed in Constituency No. 2, where candidate Uttam Prasad Poudel received 31,911 direct votes, but the party received 33,657 votes in the PR system. Likewise, in Constituency No. 3, Bina Gurung won with 37,750 votes, whereas the party earned 38,615 votes in the proportional tally. With 113,628 votes, the RSP has emerged as the primary political force in Kaski, leaving the Nepali Congress and CPN-UML struggling behind with 28,656 and 24,199 votes, respectively. This unprecedented surge for the RSP suggests that the party has successfully cultivated a brand that resonates deeply with the aspirations of the local populace, effectively shifting the focus from individual charisma to collective party vision.
