Bhaktapur, April 17:

Thirty-five candidates, who were in poll-fray in Bhaktapur district, had their deposits forfeited. Bhaktapur has two constituencies. Under the Constituent Assembly Election Act of 2008, each contestant, who fails to secure 10 per cent of total votes cast in his/her constituency, will lose his/her deposit.

In the April 10 polls, 19 candidates, including independents in constituency 1, had their deposit forfeited. Sixteen candidates in constituency 2, including independent candidates, had their deposit forfeited.

In constituency 1, Surendra Pratap Shah of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), Ramsharan Dahal of the Janmorcha Nepal (JMN), Nilkantha Thapa of the Rastriya Janshakti Party (RJP), Chitra Bahadur Pandey of the RPP Nepal and Samita Rai of the CPN-Unified had their deposit forfeited.

Independents Kaji Man Lama, Kanchha Shyam, Krishna Manandhar, Gautam Kafle, Manjit Moktan, Rajaram Duwal, Raj Kumar Tamang, Ram Lal Nemhaphuki, Ramkrishna Tyawana, Laxmi Sundar Vasukala, Bishnu Prasad Vasukala, Buddhi Bahadur Boyaju, Shivhari Rokka and Shyam Sundar Tamang also had their deposit forfeited.

In seat 2, RPP’s Ram Hari Thapa, JMN’s Krishna Lal Goja Shrestha, RPP Nepal’s Surya Hari Shankhdev, CPN-Unified’s Urmila Devkota, CPN-UML’s Adip Kumar Khadka, Nepali Congress United Marxist’s Radhika Baral and Sashakti Nepal’s Chandra Kumari Rana had their deposit forfeited. Independents Krishna Prasad Koiju, Gopal Bahadur Khatri, Bal Krishna Shrestha, Madan Lal Shrestha, Myla Prajapati, Raju Khadka, Bishnu Ram Doomroo, Hari Bhakta Bhagya Shrestha and Hari Bhakta Hengju also lost their deposit, said the Bhaktapur district election office.

None of the 54 new parties registered in the EC ahead of the April 10 CA polls got a vote here. National-level parties — the NC, UML, Maoists — and the Tarai Madhes Democratic Party, a regional-level party, did get some votes.

However, the poll stakes were swept clean by the Narayan Man Bijukchhe-led Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (NWPP), which bagged both seats in Bhaktapur with huge margins. NWPP netted the lion’s share of 35,792 votes while the Nepal Shanti Chhetra Parishad garnered 8 votes, the lowest quantum polled here.

A report from Sindhupalchowk said 31 candidates including 28 of 17 political parties and three independents lost their deposits after failing to secure 10 per cent or more votes in their favour.