Candidate watch: Anisha Nepali from Salyan

Anisha Nepali, 32, is a former member of the 2022 House of Representatives elected under the proportional representation from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP).

A community medicine assistant by profession with an academic background in education, she positions herself as a development-focused leader committed to social justice, youth retention, agricultural reform, and strengthening market linkages in Salyan.

During her tenure as MP, she served on the Agriculture, Cooperatives, and Natural Resources Committee, engaging with policy issues affecting farmers, rural livelihoods, and natural resource governance. Her political affiliation with RPP dates back to 2016; she previously contested the local election for chairperson of Darma Rural Municipality in 2017 and 2022, though she was not elected in either race.

Anisha frames her public service motivation through lived experience, stating that the structural barriers she faced as a Dalit woman shaped her resolve to pursue enforceable legal and institutional reforms to ensure meaningful representation of marginalised communities.

Development and governance agenda

Nepali’s development platform centres on transforming Salyan into a model district grounded in reliable service delivery, stronger infrastructure, expanded employment, and agricultural commercialisation. She has pledged that if re-elected, she will donate her entire salary and allowances to social causes and community service.

Her agricultural agenda focuses on commercialisation, fair pricing mechanisms, and direct links between local farmers and larger markets, while ensuring access to quality seeds and fertilisers. She aims to position Salyan as a commercial hub for vegetable and fruit production.

Healthcare delivery forms another pillar of her agenda. Drawing from her professional background, she advocates upgrading local health posts to provide minimum essential and specialised services so that state services meaningfully reach remote communities.

She also emphasises employment generation and youth retention to curb outmigration and brain drain, promoting organised marketplaces, entrepreneurship, and tourism development linked to Salyan’s geography and identity.

At the governance level, she aligns with the RPP's anti-corruption stance. She supports a shift from the current federal structure to a unitary model of governance, in line with her party’s core position. She identifies weak cross-party cooperation as a major national challenge, arguing that partisan ideology often overrides shared development goals.

Sidebar

Top priority if elected

• Ensure reliable and efficient delivery of public services at the community level
• Establish structured, modern marketplaces to empower local businesses and foster innovation in Salyan
• Expand employment opportunities to reduce youth outmigration and brain drain
• Develop well-equipped hospitals and quality schools within the district

Major concern

• Lack of cross-party cooperation, where partisan interests outweigh collective development commitments

Previous experiences that best prepare her for the role

• Member of Parliament, 2022–2025
• Member, Agriculture, Cooperatives, and Natural Resources Committee
• Contested Darma Rural Municipality Chairperson (2017 and 2022), not elected