Voting along the India-Nepal border area in Darjeeling will be held over two days starting from Friday.

Darjeeling peacefully voted for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat on Friday while Illam, the adjoining district in Nepal, will also vote for their parliament seat on Saturday.

The India-Nepal border was sealed at Pashupati Fatak for three days until 6pm on Friday. “Movement along Pashupati will, however, be stopped on Saturday, too, as Nepal has also imposed a ‘silence’ period until their elections are over on Saturday,” said a source.

A sprawling town connects the two countries. The Indian side is officially called Pashupati Fatak and falls in Sukhiapokhri block of Darjeeling while the contiguous Nepal side is officially called Pashupatinagar. Locals call both the sides simply Pashupati.

While Darjeeling voted for its general election, Illam is going for a by-election. Illam district has two parliamentary seats, Illam-1 constituency and Illam-2 constituency.

“The Nepal election is being held as the Illam-2 seat fell vacant after the demise of former speaker and Constituent Assembly chairman Subash Chandra Nembang,” said Navin Giri, a resident of Nepal.

Sources in Nepal said that Nembang, from the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Lenin) who had continuously won the constituency since 1999, died reportedly due to a heart attack on September 13, last year.

The Illam-2 seats include the district headquarters Illam up to Mia municipality. The Pashupatinagar area which falls under Suryodaya municipality falls under Illam-1 constituency.

During the period when the border was sealed, citizens of India and similarly citizens of Nepal were allowed to enter their respective countries. “However, the normal to and fro of citizens for daily business or other matters have been stopped,”

“This is why the business establishment on the Nepal side is mostly shut as their trade is also dependent on the Indian side and Nepal, too, is observing the 48-days of ‘silence period’ during which no campaigning is allowed,” said Naresh Giri, a resident of Nepal.

Just like the keenly fought contest in Darjeeling, the residents of Illam said that their election is also being keenly contested.

Subash Chandra Nembang had defeated Dambar Bahadur Khadka of the Nepali Congress by 1,014 votes during the last contest on November 22, 2022.

The CPN-UML, which is headed by former Nepal prime minister K.P. Oli and CPN (Maoist Centre), headed by the present Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda had nominated 32-year-old Suhang Nembang, son of Subash Chandra.

Suhang is a lawyer by profession.

Their principal opposition the Nepali Congress has renominated Khadka, who had lost to Subash Chandra in 2022, once again.

There are a total of 20 candidates in the fray for the Illam-2 seat, said a source. In Darjeeling a total of 14 contestants are in the fray.

While the BJP, TMC and Congress are the principal contenders for the Darjeeling seat, the fight in Nepal is between the predominant Communist parties and the Nepali Congress on the other hand. “Independents, too, could emerge as the dark horses,” said a source.

Apart from Illam, elections will also be held in the Bajhang (A) constituency of Sudurpaschim Assembly. The seat remained vacant after Prithvi Bahadur Singh, a provincial assembly member and also the provincial minister for internal affairs and law, was killed in a road crash in June.

Nepal’s politics has been a musical chair between the K.P. Oli, leader of CPN (UML), Prachanda of Maoist Centre and Sher Bahadur Deuba of Nepali Congress.

In 2022 Prachanda and Oli fought the general elections as an alliance but during government formation Deuba, too, supported Prachanda.