Surkhet: Badami Bohora of Dolpa, in Province 6, is the only CPN-UML proportional representation candidate to be elected in the provincial assembly from the entire Karnali zone.

Out of six proportional seats won by her party in the provincial assembly, one representative has been recommended each from Dailekh, Jajarkot and Rukum West districts, while two were selected from Surkhet alone.

Similarly while Nepali Congress has recommended two of its five proportional candidates from Karnali, CPN-MC didn’t even bother to recommend a single representative from the zone that comprises five districts.

Even political representatives have shown their concern about the poor representation from Karnali zone. “Karnali zone makes up the bulk of the province, but it’s very sad that even the major political parties have ignored it by sending very few representatives from here under the proportional representation category,” said the UML proportional representation candidate Bohora.

Of the total 10 districts in the province, Karnali alone comprises five districts and makes up more than 75 per cent of the area in the province. Just four of the total 16 proportional provincial assembly representatives are represented from Karnali zone. Meanwhile, the number of first-past-the-post representatives is also meagre from the zone, where just 10 FPTP candidates will represent in the 40-strong provincial assembly.