BHAKTAPUR: Nepali Congress candidate Krishna Lal Bhandel has won the by-election for the State Assembly (SA) Member from Bhaktapur constituency 1(a).

He garnered a total of 13,449 votes, beating his nearest competitor DP Dhakal of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) who received 11,206 votes.

Likewise, Nepal Workers and Peasants' Party candidate Niraj Lawaju obtained 5,829 votes followed by Rastriya Prajatantra Party's candidate Shyam Prasad Nepal secured 574 votes, and Sajha Party's Suraj Pradhan received 385 votes.

The constituency that comprises all nine wards in the Changunarayan Municipality and 10 wards in Bhaktapur Municipality-10 recorded the total 71.17 per cent voters turnout in the election held yesterday.

A total of 32,037 (15,665 male and 16,372 female) exercised their franchise in the constituency which has a total of 45,015 voters including 21,935 male and 23,080 female.