Khotang/Sindhuli, April 14:

Maoist poll candidates have won in all six constituencies of three hilly districts of the Sagarmatha zone, namely Khotang, Okhaldhunga and Solukhumbu. Maoist candidate Gopal Khambu got 19,094 votes in Solukhumbu, which has 84,182 voters. His rival Bal Bahadur KC of the Nepali Congress polled 9,434 votes. A total of 42,300 voters cast votes in Solukhumbu, which has only one constituency. Of the votes cast, 1,899 were declared invalid.

Maoist candidates won in both constituencies in Okhaldhunga. Keshav Rai got 11,635 votes, while Nepali Congress candidate Balkrishna Dahal got 9,053 votes.

A total of 33,017 voters cast votes in Okhaldhunga-1, the Okhaldhunga district election office said. According to the office, Okhaldhunga has 63,156 voters. Maoist candidate from Okhaldhunga-2 Balkrishna Dhungel won, securing 11,069 votes, while his rival, Kishor Adhikari of the CPN-UML, got 8,733 votes. The number of voters in this constituency stood at 66,222. Altogether 1,607 votes were declared invalid.

Maoist candidate Ramkumar Rai won in Khotang-1, securing 16,687 votes, while Nepali Congress candidate Subas Kumar Pokhrel got 9,029 votes. There were 92,828 voters in Khotang-1. A total of 44,600 voters cast votes here; 2,363 votes were declared invalid.

Maoist candidate Samita Karki won in Khotang-2, securing 18,168 votes, while his rival, Bishal Bhattarai of the CPN-UML got 10,681 votes.

Meanwhile, the CPN (Maoist) won two seats in Sindhuli district, which has .

Maoist candidate Chandra Prakash Gajurel won Sindhuli-2 seat, securing 18,398 votes. Trailing him was Keshav Prasad Devkota of the CPN-UML, who secured 10,660 votes. Ujwol Baral of the NC got 10,401 votes.

Niru Sarlami of the CPN-Maoist won Sindhuli-3 seat, securing 14,944 votes, while Dip Dhikha Dhakal of the Nepali Congress and Surya Pakhrin of the CPN-UML secured 6,512 and 6,049 votes respectively. Sarlami defeated Lilamani Pokharel of the Janamorcha Nepal was also in the poll-fray here.

Bisamlal Lal Adhikary of the CPN-UML has been the frontrunner in Sindhuli-1, securing 10,626 votes while Shantiman Karki of the CPN-Maoist has secured 10,318 votes. Binod Gurung of the Nepali Congress has secured 8,245 votes.

Maoist poll candidates have won in both constituencies of Bhojpur district, a report said.

Minister of State for Physical Planning and Works Padam Bahadur Rai, the Maoist candidate in Bhojpur-1, defeated NC candidate and Minister for Water Resources Gyanendra Bahadur Karki. Rai got 15,796 votes, while Karki polled 13,552 votes.

In Bhojpur-2, Maoist candidate Surat Rai won, securing 17,587 votes, while CPN-UML candidate Sherdhan Rai got 9,885 votes.

Vote-counting is on for the proportional representation system, said chief election officer in Bhojpur Shyamprasad Lawoti.

Meanwhile, the CPN-Maoist and CPN-UML took out rallies in Banepa of Kavre district today to celebrate the victory of their respective candidates. The Maoists took out a rally from the Chandni Chowk of Banepa to Dhulikhel via Teendobato and Purano Bazaar. Some 4000 Maoist cadres attended the victory rally of Maoist candidate from Kavre-1 Suryaman Dong, Maoist candidate from Kavre-2 Akkal Bahadur Theeng and Maoist candidate from Kavre-1 Tej Bahadur Mijar.

CPN-UML also took out a rally to celebrate the victory of its candidate from Kavre-3 Krishna Prasad Sapkota. Some 2000 UML cadres took part in the rally. The rally ended at Budol after passing through Purano Bazaar and Godam Chowk.

Sharat Singh Bhandari of the Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum has won Mahottari-6 seat. Vote-counting is going on in Mahottari-2.

Maoist dies while celebrating win

BANEPA: Maoist cadre Ram Chandra Chaulagain, 50, of Pokharichauri VDC-5 in Kavre-4 died while taking part in the victory rally organised by the party here on on Monday. Chaulagain broke ranks, saying he had to attend the nature’s call and went to a hotel near the Chardobato bus park. There, he asked a diner to pour water over his head and collapsed. Seeing him in death throes, locals rushed to fetch police. Chaulagain died on the way to hospital. His body was taken to the Ksheer Memorial Hospital for post-mortem. Locals opined he might have died of dizziness caused by hunger as he had been marching all day on an empty stomach. — HNS