KATHMANDU: In Morang district, which is considered a stronghold of the Nepali Congress (NC), five candidates from the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) are leading in the early vote count across six constituencies.

RSP candidates are leading in Morang constituencies 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6. In Morang-3, Amir Magar of the Shram Sanskriti Party is leading with 590 votes. In the same constituency, RSP’s Ganesh Karki is in third place with 283 votes, while Sunil Sharma of the Nepali Congress—who had previously won the election from this constituency—is in second place with 328 votes.

In Morang-1, RSP candidate Yagya Mani Neupane is leading with 4,125 votes. Shanti Pakhrin Lama of the Shram Sanskriti Party is in second place with 2,817 votes, while Khadga Phago of the Nepali Congress is in third position with 1,833 votes and Ghanshyam Khatiwada of CPN (UML) is in fourth position with 1,498 votes.

In Morang-2, Krishna Kumar Karki of the RSP is also leading with 2,709 votes. Dilip Kumar Agrawal of CPN (UML) is in second place with 906 votes, while Nepali Congress leader Minendra Rijal is third with 756 votes.

In Morang-4, RSP candidate Santosh Rajbanshi is close to victory with 11,597 votes. Gururaj Ghimire of the Nepali Congress is second with 2,652 votes, while Aman Lal Modi of the Nepali Communist Party—who previously won the seat—is third with 2,431 votes. Jeewan Ghimire of CPN (UML) is fourth with 1,964 votes.

In Morang-5, RSP candidate Asha Jha is leading with 5,105 votes. Rajkumar Yadav of the Janata Samajbadi Party is second with 2,358 votes, Shiv Kumar Mandal of the Nepali Communist Party is third with 1,873 votes, Phool Kumar Lalwani of the Nepali Congress is fourth with 1,497 votes, and Manoj Kumar Agrawal of CPN (UML) is fifth with 910 votes.

In Morang-6, RSP candidate Rubina Acharya is leading with 6,601 votes. Nepali Congress leader and previous election winner Shekhar Koirala is far behind with 1,427 votes, while Binod Dhakal of CPN (UML) is following closely with 1,344 votes.