The Nepal Weekly 
March 7, 2023
By TNW correspondent
With candidates Paudyal (NC) and Nembang (CPN UML) ending final election campaign for presidential poll to enter silence period, the focus now has been shifted to the election of third Vice-President of the country.
The eight party-alliance appears to have decided to support the candidate of Janata Samajwadi for the second highest post, insiders of alliance say. The person has not been selected yet.
Opposition party CPN UML has also not decided yet on the leader to compete against the candidate of the eight party alliance. But informed persons say the person will be from Madhesh and a female.
The JS should now offer candidature for VP. Choices before it are: either a female leader or a leader of communities which differ from those which Paudyal or Nembang represent, observed an analyst.
The constitution has provision for ensuring plurality in gender and communities in those who accompany the highest two posts. The same, according to a politico close to Upendra Yadav, has been a problem for JS leader Upendra Yadav today.
Yadav wants to enter parliament through by-election. He has therefore developed a strategy of making Bara 2 JS parliamentarian a candidate for VP and planning to fight the by –election there. Whether he will succeed in the strategy is something that cannot be predicted at the moment.
Fair politics expects Yadav to forward a female JS leader or a marginalized community leader for race of VP. But the same does not satisfy the ego of JS leader Yadav. That is why he is in dilemma today.
Other leaders of JS emphasize the need for JS to think broadly for the long term politics of the party and not for the personalized politics of a particular leader.
Alliance leaders understand the importance of Upendra Yadav in parliament. At the same time they emphasize the need to offer VP candidacy to a female politico, said a senior politician.
