Dang, December 10

Influential left alliance leaders emerged victorious with huge margin against their rival candidates in Dang, Rolpa and Rupandehi while the alliance’s candidate lost in Bardiya.

Senior leader of CPN-MC and Deputy Prime Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara won the parliamentary elections from Dang-2, former finance minister Barsha Man Pun from Rolpa and influential  UML leader and former finance minister Bishnu Poudel won from Rupandehi-1.

Mahara defeated his closest rival NC’s Raju Khanal by 14,145 votes. Mahara garnered 40,042 votes while Khanal garnered 25,897 votes. Earlier,Mahara had won the general elections of 1991 from Rolpa, the first CA election from Dang-3 and second CA election from Rolpa-2.

CPN-MC leader and former finance minister Barsha Man Pun defeated his rival NC’s Amar Singh Pun by more than double the votes in Rolpa, which has only one parliamentary constituency. Pun got 40,647 votes while his NC rival obtained 19,906 votes.

Left alliance’s candidate senior UML leader Bishnu Poudel won parliamentary elections in Rupandehi-1 with a huge difference. His rival NC’s Yuba Raj Giri garnered only 21,946 votes while Poudel garnered 44,009 votes.

Similarly, CPN-MC candidate Chakrapani Khanal defeated NC’s Dip Kumar Upadhyay, who resigned from the ambassadorial position of Nepal to India, by a margin of 946 votes. He garnered 29,799 votes in the elections. Khanal was the political adviser while CPN-MC Chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal was the prime minister. He was the commander of then People’s Liberation Army during the insurgency.

However, senior UML leader and left alliance candidate in Bardiya-1 Bam Dev Gautam was defeated by 754 votes by NC’s Sanjaya Kumar Gautam. Sanjaya garnered 44,829 votes while Bam Dev garnered 44,076 votes in the elections.