KHOTANG, MARCH 8 Aren Rai of the Shram Sanskriti Party has been elected to the House of Representatives from Khotang, marking the party's first electoral victory since its debut in parliamentary elections. Rai, who is also the party's general secretary, secured 16,612 votes, defeating Dev Bikram Rai of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), who garnered 12,714 votes, according to the Office of the Chief Returning Officer. The victory margin was 3,898 votes. Among other candidates, Birkaji Rai of the Nepali Congress received 11,957 votes, while Hari Roka of the Nepali Communist Party secured 9,443 votes. Rudra Giri of the Rastriya Swatantra Party obtained 5,704 votes, and Miresh Rai of the Rastriya Parivartan Party got 947 votes. Out of 147,120 registered voters, 62,566 ballots were cast in the March 5 election, of which 3,928 votes were invalid, according to District Election Office chief Rabin Magar. Meanwhile, the party is also leading in other constituencies, including Bhojpur-1, where Dhruvaraj Rai has received 13,455 votes, and Sunsari-1, where Harka Raj Rai is ahead with 34,062 votes.