CPN-UML candidates have secured victories in the National Assembly elections from Koshi Province, as the Nepali Congress–CPN-UML–JSP alliance won all three seats from the province.
Somanath Portel of the CPN-UML has been elected as a National Assembly member under the Dalit category. Portel, who hails from Jhapa, received a total vote weight of 7,423. He secured votes from 68 members of the Provincial Assembly and 201 representatives from local governments.
His closest rival, Khem Sundas of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP), obtained a total vote weight of 2,027. Sundas received support from 18 provincial assembly members and 57 local-level representatives.
Earlier, Nepali Congress candidate Sunil Bahadur Thapa had already been elected unopposed to the National Assembly.
UML Secures Women’s Seat
In the women’s category, CPN-UML candidate Roshni Meche has been elected to the National Assembly. She received votes from 64 provincial assembly members and 199 local government representatives, securing a total vote weight of 7,173.
Her nearest competitor, NCP candidate Namita Nyaupane, obtained a total vote weight of 2,268. She received votes from 22 provincial assembly members. Although the NCP has 17 provincial lawmakers in Koshi Province, Nyaupane secured votes from five lawmakers belonging to the ruling alliance.
Cross-voting was also recorded at the local level. Seventeen local government representatives from the alliance voted for Nyaupane. While the NCP has 36 local-level voters in the province, Nyaupane received votes from 58 local representatives in total.
Despite the cross-voting, the support was insufficient to change the outcome. UML’s Roshni Meche, a resident of Dhaijan in Jhapa, won the seat by a wide margin and entered the upper house of Parliament.
