SURKHET: The final results of the House of Representatives (HoR) elections for all 12 constituencies of Karnali Province are now available. These results have helped the Nepali Congress (NC) and the Nepali Communist Party (NCP) preserve their prestige in Karnali. In terms of the number of representatives, the NC emerged as the leading party in the province. However, the results did not meet the expectations of the UML, which claims to have a strong organization and voter base in Karnali.

In the 2022 elections, the UML had no seats in Karnali, but this time they expected to win at least five. They, however, managed to secure only one seat. The UML won in Dailekh-2, with Laxmi Prasad Pokharel elected from this constituency. The NC’s Dikpal Kumar Shahi, who had defeated him in the previous election, was defeated this time.

This time, among the older parties, the NC won five seats and the NCP won four. Candidates who had contested in the 2022 elections from the then CPN (Maoist Center) and the then CPN (Unified Socialist) helped maintain the prestige of the newly restructured NCP. Essentially, in Karnali, considered a former Maoist stronghold, candidates from the former Maoist faction retained their legacy.

The only MP elected from UML in Karnali is Laxmi Prasad Pokharel (Dailekh 2).

The Nepali Congress won in Humla, Mugu, Dailekh-1, Jajarkot, and Surkhet-1. The elected representatives are Jayapati Rokaya in Humla, Khadag Shahi in Mugu, Basna Thapa in Dailekh-1, Khadak Bahadur BC in Jajarkot, and Bishnu Bahadur Khadka in Surkhet-1. Nepali Congress candidates who were defeated include Narayan Kumar Koirala in Surkhet-2 by the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), district chair Kesh Bahadur Bista in Salyan, Raju KC in Rukum West, party co-general secretary Karna Bahadur Budha in Dolpa, Harsha Bam in Kalikot by NCP, Deep Bahadur Shahi in Jumla by Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP), and Dikpal Kumar Shahi in Dailekh-2 by the UML.

The elected MPs from the NCP are Dhan Bahadur Budha (Dolpa), Gopal Sharma (Rukum West), Mahendra Bahadur Shahi (Kalikot) and Ramesh Malla (Salyan), respectively.

The NCP won in Salyan, Rukum West, Kalikot, and Dolpa. In Dolpa, former Socialist leader Dhan Bahadur Budha was elected. In Kalikot, Mahendra Bahadur Shahi; in Rukum West, Gopal Sharma; and in Salyan, Ramesh Malla were elected. All three are former Maoist leaders. From the NCP, Shakti Bahadur Basnet lost in Jajarkot, Jeet Bahadur Rana lost in Surkhet-1, Dr Dipendra Rokaya lost in Humla, Ammar Bahadur Thapa lost in Dailekh, and Chandra Bahadur Shahi lost in Mugu to the NC. In Surkhet-2, Jhak Bahadur Malla was defeated by the RSP, Naresh Bhandari in Jumla was defeated by RPP, and Yogendra Bahadur Shahi in Dailekh-2 lost to the UML.

One seat for RPP from Karnali

In this HoR election, the pro-monarchist RPP also tested its strength in Karnali. Nationwide, the RPP won only a single seat, which was secured by Gyan Bahadur Shahi in Jumla. He had also won from RPP in the 2022 elections, defeating the NC-Maoist alliance at that time. This time he contested independently against all parties and preserved RPP’s reputation.

Gyan Bahadur Shahi (Jumla) of the RPP has won the only direct election in the country.

First entry of RSP in Karnali

While the RSP led nationwide, in Karnali it made its first entry by winning a seat. In Surkhet-2, RSP district chair Ramesh Kumar Sapkota defeated NC, UML, and NCP candidates with a margin of over 14,000 votes.

The RSP also secured a satisfactory number of votes in other parts of Karnali. In Salyan, the RSP candidate Lalit Kumar Chand received the second-highest votes after the winning NCP candidate. The winner got 23,289 votes, while Chand received 20,904 votes.

The only MP elected from the RSP in Karnali is Ramesh Kumar Sapkota (Surkhet 2).

In Surkhet-1, Tek Bahadur Singh got 14,729 votes. In Dailekh-1, candidate Nanda Kishor Basnet received 8,151 votes, and in Dailekh-2, Bakhat Bahadur Shahi received 6,797 votes. All three finished third behind the NCP candidates in terms of votes.

RSP candidates performed poorly in other districts. The Kalikot candidate received 3,101 votes, Binita Kathayat in Jumla (she had become a lawmaker via proportional representation in the 2022 HoR election) received 421 votes, Dolpa’s candidate 181 votes, Humla’s candidate 1,064 votes, Mugu’s candidate 530 votes, Jajarkot’s candidate 2,471 votes, and Rukum West’s candidate 4,076 votes.

Elder brother comes third in sibling contest

Dhan Bahadur Budha, elected from Dolpa in this election, secured his fourth win. He has been contesting elections since 2013 and has consistently won. Previously in the UML, he later joined the CPN (Unified Socialist) and now won under the restructured NCP.

Budha, a four-time parliamentarian, competed against his brother, Karna Bahadur Budha, who ran from the Nepali Congress and is the party’s co-general secretary. In this sibling contest, the elder brother came third. Dhan Bahadur won with 6,802 votes, UML candidate Lank Bahadur Rokaya received 5,326 votes, and Karn Bahadur received 2,947 votes.