Independent candidate Mahabir Pun, who resigned as education minister in the caretaker government, won Myagdi-1 constituency in remote hill districts, defeating his nearest rivals from CPN-(UML) and NC. Incidentally, RSP did not field any candidate against him.
The seats won by the Ravi Lamichhan-led RSP include a clean sweep in all 15 constituencies of three districts in the Kathmandu Valley, EC data showed.
The old parties failed to convince the voters, for whom the main issue was the fight against corruption and the end of nepotism, in addition to a generational change in the country’s political leadership.
Former Vice Speaker Indira Rana Magar of RSP won in Jhapa-2 by defeating Speaker of the dissolved House of Representatives and senior CPN-UML leader Dev Raj Ghimire.
Rana Magar won with a huge margin of 48,742 votes against Ghimira who secured 11,368 votes.
Nepali Congress president Gagan Thapa (49), who was tipped as his party’s prime ministerial candidate, lost from Dhanusha-4 constituency to RSP’s Amaresh Singh.
Singh received 33,688 votes against Thapa’s 22,831, according to the Election Commission.
Other senior leaders of the Nepali Congress, including General Secretary Guru Raj Ghimire, Shekhar Koirala and Bimalendra Nidhi, also faced defeat.
Ten CPN-UML office bearers also lost the election, including party general secretary Shankar Pokharel.
Other CPN-UML leaders who lost were vice presidents Bishnu Paudel, Prithvi Subba Gurung and Gokarna Bista, deputy general secretary Raghubir Mahaseth and secretaries Sherdhan Rai, Mahesh Basnet, Rajan Bhattarai and Bhanubhakta Dhakal.
Harka Rai, president of the Shram Sanskriti party, won from Sunsari-1 defeating RSP candidate Goma Tamang.
RSP leader Lamichhane won by a huge margin from Chitwan-2 constituency, marking his third victory in a row, with 54,402 votes against his nearest rival, Mina Kumari Kharel of NC who got 14,564 votes.
According to the EC, former prime minister and NCP leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ won from Rukum Purba district by securing 10,240 votes against his rival Lilamani Gautam of CPN-UML who got 3,462 votes.
RPP’s Gyanendra Shahi won from the Jumla constituency in Karnali province by defeating his nearest rival, Naresh Bhandari of the NCP, becoming the only pro-monarchist party candidate to secure a seat in the House of Representatives.
10 female candidates also won the elections – nine from the RSP and one from the NC.
During the March 5 House of Representatives elections, Nepal witnessed about 60 percent voter turnout.
Of the 275 members of parliament, 165 are elected by direct vote and the remaining 110 by proportional representation.
Around 3,400 candidates ran for 165 seats in direct voting and 3,135 candidates for 110 seats in proportional voting.
RSP is also leading in proportional representation with 24,55,764 votes followed by Nepali Congress with 8,31,224 votes.
CPN-UML got 7,09,575 votes, Communist Party of Nepal 3,36,933, RPP 1,78,975 and Shram Sanskriti Party 1,21,066 votes according to EC.
