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The Nov 20 election is less than two weeks away. Candidates contesting the elections—ranging from 22 to 99 years old—are on door-to-door campaigns to bring voters on their side. Unlike previous parliamentary elections, this time there are a lot of independent candidates. Top political honchos find themselves pitted against new, aspiring leaders.

Here are three such independent youths who are competing against the former prime ministers.   

Rahul Kumar Mishra, Rautahat-1

A 25-year-old engineer Rahul Kumar Mishra filed his candidacy for federal election from Rautahat-1. The chairman of CPN (Unified Socialist) Madhav Kumar Nepal is also contesting the election from the same constituency. Rautahat is the hometown of independent candidate Mishra while Nepal has also contested elections from Rautahat several times. In the last election, Nepal won from Kathmandu-2.

Mishra has an engineering degree from the Thapathali Engineering Campus in Kathmandu where he was president of the Nepal-Tarai student union. He is also a co-founder and vice-president of CharitAble, a group of youths working to promote practical education while encouraging youths on environmental sanitation, waste management, and carbon control.  His major agenda is to make Rautahat an exemplary town in the Madhes by providing better education. He envisions facilitating community schools so that people don’t have to pay expensive fees at private schools. Mishra also wants to establish good educational institutions in Rautahat so that youths don’t have to go abroad for education and employment.   

Sagar Dhakal, Dadheldhura-1

Independent candidate Sagar Dhakal is 31 years old. He is a hydro-mechanical engineer graduate from Pulchowk Engineering Campus in Lalitpur. He also has a policy and management degree from Oxford University. Dhakal says he got involved in politics after thinking about how Nepal can be developed in the next 50 years. Though his hometown is Gulmi, he is contesting parliamentary elections from Dadhedhura-1. He says he has seen more problems in the district of Nepali Congress President and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba than in his own district. I

n 2017, Dhakal came into the limelight after a heated exchange with Deuba on live TV. He says that people under 40 should run the country. His electoral slogan is ‘Direct leadership of the youth, advice of parents, respect and rest for the grandparents’—meaning youths like him should run the country and second-generation political leaders should have an advisory role while Deuba, Oli, Dahal, and the others should now rest.

Yug Pathak, Jhapa-5

Yug Pathak, 44, is a writer, journalist, and political commentator. He filed his candidacy for the federal election from Jhapa-5, hometown of former Prime Minister and Chairman of CPN-UML KP Oli. Pathak was born and brought up in Makawanpur but he chose Jhapa for the election which he calls ‘Oozelution Movement’, a campaign against Oli. Pathak was also a leader of the civil society movement ‘Brihat Nagarik Aandolan’ whose aim was to fight against the unconstitutional move to dissolve the parliament by then Prime Minister Oli. He is a scholar of English literature. Two of his famous books are ‘Mangena’ and ‘Urgen Ko Ghoda’.

‘Mangena’ questions the ideologies that have been institutionalized since the Panchayat period. The book’s basic argument is that old ideologies should be discarded and new concepts should be developed to recognize and understand the current Nepali society.

Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Li Qun is arriving in Nepal on Friday. He is coming to Nepal to visit cultural heritage sites that are being reconstructed with the help of China after the earthquake. Tourism Minister Jeevaram Shrestha’s personal secretary Bhimsen Rajbahak confirmed the Chinese minister’s visit to Nepal. “He is coming to Nepal tomorrow. He will inspect the heritage sites being reconstructed at the investment of China. The tourism minister is scheduled to welcome him at the airport,” he said. The Chinese minister’s visit on the eve of the elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly has been taken meaningfully. A source at the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that his visit should not be seen politically. “He is coming to Nepal to inspect the infrastructures constructed with the help of the Chinese government. Let’s not see his visit in a political way,” the source said. During his visit to Nepal, the Chinese minister will visit the nine-storey palace of Hanumandhoka in Basantapur. Tourism Minister Shrestha will welcome him at the palace. Similarly, he is scheduled to visit Pashupatinath Temple, Krishna Mandir in Patan and Bhaktapur Durbar Square, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.  

President Bidya Devi Bhandari received WPL Trailblazer Award 2022 at the Reykjavik Global Forum – Women Leaders today. Silvana-Koch Mehrin, President and Founder of Women Political Leaders and former Vice-President of the European Parliament, presented the award to the President. Katrίn Jacobsdόttir, Prime Minister of Iceland and Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Former President of Iceland were also present at the award ceremony. The President dedicated the award to the Nepali women whose struggle for gender empowerment and inclusion contributed for the achievements that Nepal has made in those agendas this far. While accepting the award, the President emphasized on Nepal’s progress and commitment on gender empowerment and Nepal’s commitment to make further progress in this area, the Embassy of Nepal in Copenhagen, Denmark said. Earlier, the President delivered a keynote speech to the Forum and highlighted Nepal’s journey to institutionalize an inclusive democracy that has well embodied principles of human rights, equality, non-discrimination, inclusion and social transformation. During the keynote speech, the President also underlined the challenges Nepal is facing due to climate change and called upon the international community for a transparent mechanism and fast-track provisions for resources, transfer of technology, and capacity-building support to deal with these challenges. Later in the afternoon on the sidelines of the Forum, Prime Minister of Iceland Katrίn Jacobsdόttir called on the President. Matters of further strengthening bilateral relations and exchanging potential cooperation in areas such as geothermal energy technology, climate change, tourism and sharing of experience in the areas of women and gender empowerment were discussed during the meeting. Also on the sidelines, Sima Bahous, Executive Director of the UN Women, called on the President and appreciated the progress made by Nepal in women’s political empowerment and SDG indicators. Separately, Silvana-Koch Mehrin, President and Founder of Women Political Leaders and Laura Liswood, Secretary General of Council of Women World Leaders also called on the President and discussed various experiences and issues related to gender, development and climate change. Two famous Icelandic mountaineers who summited Sagarmatha and Lhotse also met with the President and shared their experience. The President also interacted with Icelandic and international media. In the evening, the President attended an event hosted by Nepali diaspora in Iceland and briefly addressed the community.  

Russia will retreat from the city of Kherson, Vladimir Putin’s top commanders have said, Independent.co.uk reported. Sergei Shoigu, the Kremlin’s defence minister, on Wednesday ordered his troops to withdraw from the west bank of the Dnipro River in the face of Ukrainian attacks near the occupied city. The announcement marked one of Russia’s most significant retreats and a potential turning point in the war, now nearing the end of its ninth month. In televised comments, General Sergei Surovikin, in overall command of the war, said it was no longer possible to supply Kherson city. He said he proposed to take up defensive lines on the eastern bank of the river, according to Independent.co.uk reported. Gen Surovikin, appointed by Mr Putin recently to get a grip on Russia’s ailing military campaign, said 115,000 people had been evacuated from the city since Russia started moving out civilians in anticipation of a Ukrainian assault.