Nepal, Feb. 15 -- On a dusty gravel road from Tumcha to Jaira in Humla, our jeep broke down. The silencer stopped working. It was only later that we realised that in a span of three days, we had burned Rs20,000 worth of diesel, which was supposed to last us 20 days. For the next two hours, we had to make arrangements for a new vehicle, which lasted less than a day. The new vehicle cost us an additional Rs14,000. This is just one of the many challenges of contesting in highland districts like Humla.

The rugged terrain, inaccessible villages and the population scattered across the topography make the constituency perhaps the most challenging across the entire country. For a candidate to get to just one village, such as Nepka, it takes two ...