Cong, UML in tight race to the top

The Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN-UML were in a neck-and-neck competition to secure the first position as vote counting in over 200 constituencies for the first-past-the-post poll system continued for the second day on Thursday.

While the UML was able to narrow down its initial lead gap with the NC, which was still leading in the vote count late on Thursday night, the UCPN (Maoist) continued to trail far behind.

As the Post went to press on Thursday, the NC and the UML had both won 24 seats each, followed by the UCPN (Maoist) with five and the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik with one win.

Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala won the polls in Banke-3 where he bagged 10,775 votes, while his immediate rival Dhabal SJB Rana secured 8,807 votes. In 2008, Koirala suffered a defeat in the same constituency.  Koirala was also leading in Chitwan-4.

Senior NC leader and former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was declared winner in Dadeldhura, where he bagged more than double the votes his close competitor Khagraj Bhatta of the UCPN (Maoist) got. In 2008, Deuba defeated Bhatta with a margin of 1,500 votes.

NC leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula, who played a key role in the peace process but suffered defeat in the previous election , was also leading the vote count this time.

The biggest upset on Thursday was UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s humiliating defeat in Kathmandu-10, where Rajan KC of the Congress won with a margin of 7,000 votes.

Dahal, who had projected himself as Nepal’s future president during his election campaigns, is also struggling in his other constituency in Siraha-5, where he was leading with a low margin as of Thursday night.

The UCPN (Maoist) has already lost seven seats in Kathmandu Valley alone, as the NC added four and UML three in their kitty.

In the 2008 Constituent Assembly election , the UCPN (Maoist) had secured 120 seats under the FPTP category, while the NC and the UML had won 37 and 33 seats respectively.

UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal, who lost the previous election , was leading in Kathmandu-2 this time with a handsome margin, while NC youth leader Gagan Thapa was all set to win for the first time under the direct poll system. Thapa was elected under the proportional representation system in 2008.

Senior UML leader KP Oli, who faced a humiliating loss in the previous election , is leading the race in Jhapa-7 with a handsome margin this time. The UML swept all the three constituencies in Dhading district, where the Maoist party had won a landslide in 2008.

Senior UCPN (Maoist) leader and former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai secured a win in Gorkha-1, while he was struggling in another of his constituencies, Rupandehi-4, where UML leader Bishnu Poudel was taking the lead.

Despite trailing far behind in most of the constituencies, the UCPN (Maoist) managed to win the first seat on Thursday, when leader Haribol Gajurel was declared winner in Sindhuli-3. Later, the party’s Hitraj Pandey won in Gorkha-2, Man Bahadur Thapa in Bardiya-4 and  Shiva Kumar Mandal secured a win in Morang-4.

Maoist Vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha, however, suffered a defeat in Makawanpur-2.

Regional parties such as the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Nepal led by Upendra Yadav, Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik and the Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party have, meanwhile, were not faring well as compared to the 2008 election . By the time the Post went to press on Thursday, none of the three parties was leading in more than half a dozen constituencies.

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal (RPP-N), which many had said could emerge as the dark horse, stood a tough competitor in some constituencies, though it had not won any seat as of Thursday evening.