KATHMANDU: As the results of the House of Representatives election continue to emerge, senior leaders of the Nepali Congress (NC) and the CPN (UML), which previously held the first and second positions in Parliament, are trailing significantly in the vote count. UML Chair KP Sharma Oli, Nepali Congress President Gagan Kumar Thapa, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Chair Rajendra Prasad Lingden, Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal Chair Upendra Yadav, and Janamat Party Chair CK (Chandrakant) Raut are all behind in the ongoing vote count.

UML Vice Chair Bishnu Prasad Paudel, as well as Nepali Congress general secretaries Gururaj Ghimire and Pradeep Paudel, have already been defeated by large margins. Another UML Vice Chair, Gokarna Bista, has also lost by a narrow margin from Gulmi-2.

In Jhapa-5, UML Chair KP Sharma Oli is trailing by around 26,000 votes. Since the vote counting began Thursday night, Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) senior leader Balen Shah has maintained a commanding lead in the constituency. At the time of preparing this report, Shah had received 34,863 votes, while Oli had secured 9,068 votes. In the 2022 House of Representatives election, Oli had won this constituency with 52,319 votes. Out of the seven elections previously held in Jahap district, Oli had won six times.

In Sarlahi-4, Nepali Congress President Gagan Kumar Thapa is trailing RSP candidate Amresh Kumar Singh by nearly 6,000 votes. So far, Singh has received 14,434 votes, while Thapa has secured 8,462 votes.

In Jhapa-3, RPP Chair Rajendra Prasad Lingden is trailing by 15,000 votes. RSP candidate Prakash Pathak has received 27,163 votes, while Lingden has obtained 12,152 votes. Lingden had previously won this constituency by a large margin in both the 2017 and 2022 parliamentary elections.

In Saptari-2, Janamat Party Chair CK Raut is currently in third place. RSP candidate Ramji Yadav is leading with 7,997 votes, followed by Umesh Kumar Yadav of Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) Nepal with 4,275 votes. Raut has so far received 3,245 votes. In the 2022 parliamentary election, Raut had won this constituency with 35,044 votes.

In Saptari-3, JSP Nepal Chair Upendra Yadav is trailing by about 3,000 votes in the ongoing count. RSP candidate Amarkant Chaudhary has received 11,209 votes, while Yadav has 7,971 votes.

UML Vice Chair Bishnu Prasad Paudel has been defeated in Rupandehi-2. He lost to 28-year-old RSP candidate Sulabh Kharel by a margin of 43,689 votes. Kharel secured 56,550 votes, while Paudel received only 12,861 votes.

Similarly, Nepali Congress General Secretary Gururaj Ghimire was defeated in Morang-4 by a margin of 28,015 votes. He lost to RSP candidate Santosh Rajbanshi, who secured 40,833 votes, while Ghimire received 12,818 votes.

In Lamjung, UML Vice Chair Prithvi Subba Gurung is trailing by about 14,000 votes. RSP candidate Dharma Raj KC is leading with 29,359 votes. Nepali Congress candidate Gam Prasad Gurung is in second place with 15,160 votes, while Prithvi Subba Gurung has so far received 15,100 votes. Gurung had won the previous two elections in this constituency. In the 2022 parliamentary election, he defeated Dev Prasad Gurung, the candidate of the five-party alliance including the Nepali Congress and then CPN (Maoist Center).

Another UML Vice Chair, Gokarna Bista, has been defeated in Gulmi-2 by 561 votes. RSP candidate Govinda Panthi won the seat with 16,967 votes, while Bista secured 16,406 votes. Bista had been winning elections in this constituency since 2013.

UML General Secretary Shankar Pokhrel is also trailing by a large margin in Dang-2. According to the current count, RSP candidate Bipin Kumar Acharya is leading with 34,019 votes, while Pokhrel has received 12,432 votes.

Similarly, Nepali Congress Joint General Secretary Farmullah Mansur has been defeated in Bara-3, losing to RSP candidate Arbind Sah by a margin of 30,000 votes. Sah secured 40,697 votes.

Nepali Congress Joint General Secretary Uday Shumsher Rana has also been defeated. He lost to RSP candidate Buddha Ratna Maharjan in Lalitpur-1. Rana had won from the same constituency in the 2022 election.

Likewise, UML Secretary Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal has been defeated in Tehrathum, losing to Nepali Congress candidate Santosh Subba. Meanwhile, Nepali Congress Joint General Secretaries Karna Bahadur Budha in Dolpa and Yogendra Chaudhary in Dang-1 are trailing in the ongoing vote count.

UML Deputy General Secretaries Lekh Raj Bhatta and Raghubir Mahaseth are also far behind in the vote count. Bhatta is in third place in Kailali-4, while Mahaseth is third in Dhanusha-4. UML Secretaries Mahesh Basnet and Rajan Bhattarai have already been defeated, and Sherdhan Rai is also far behind in the race.