Gaighat, July 3

Five political parties, including the Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist Centre and Rastriya Prajatantra Party registered a complaint at the Office of Chief Election Office, Udayapur, demanding re-polling at Ward No 4 of Belaka Municipality in Udayapur.

Vote counting was halted at Ward No 4 after four votes exceeding the total number of votes cast, and that too without the voting officer’s signature, were found at Gurungchauri voting centre on Friday night. Altogether, 1,751 votes were found during vote counting though the total number of votes cast at the voting centre was 1,747.

After this, parties other than the UML filed complaints seeking re-polling.

UML, however, has been seeking announcement of the result.

An all-party meeting held with the initiative of CDO Kali Prasad Parajuli ended inconclusively. The election office has sent its report to the Election Commission after the complaint was filed demanding re-poll.

As of Friday night, NC’s Ashok Karki is leading with 2,956 votes while UML’s Durga Thapa is following the NC with 2,389 votes.