Morang coalition candidates on track to win majority seats in HoR and PA

By Hari Prasad Koirala, Urlabari, Nov. 27: Vote counting has been completed in five out of six constituencies for the House of Representatives (HoR) in Morang district as of Saturday afternoon. The counting of all 12 provincial constituencies for the Provincial Assembly (PA) has also ended.

Among the six HoR constituencies, Nepali Congress (NC) has won two seats from Morang Constituencies 3 and 6, and CPN (Maoist Centre) won from Morang Constituency-4. Meanwhile, CPN-UML and an independent candidate won one seat each from Morang-2 and Morang-5 respectively.

Thus, the ruling coalition candidates have already won three out of six seats in Morang and is leading in the remaining one.

Vote counting has not been completed in Morang-1. Dig Bahadur Limbu, a candidate from NC, was winning with around 200 votes against his nearest competitor Ghanashyam Khatiwada of CPN-UML until Saturday afternoon.

For the Provincial Assembly, NC candidates won in five provincial constituencies: Morang 3(A), 4(B), 5(A), 5(B) and 6(2), while Maoist candidates won from 6(A) and 2(A). 

Meanwhile, CPN-UML candidates won from 1(A), 1(B), 2(B), 3(B) and 4(A). 

The new results being announced since Friday included the win of Dr. Sunil Kumar Sharma, a NC candidate from Morang-3. 

Dr. Sharma won with a staggering gap of 22,736 votes against his closest competitor Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal, former health minister and candidate of CPN-UML.

The duo were the major contenders for the HoR seats from Morang-3 in the 2017 election as well. Dhakal had then won against Dr. Sharma with 1,907 votes. 

However, the voters of the constituency turned their sides towards Dr. Sharma. While he received 48,631 votes, Dhakal got 25,895. In 2017, Dr. Sharma had got 40,506 votes while Dhakal 42,413.

There were a total of 31 candidates in Morang-3. Actress Rekha Thapa, who ran from Rastriya Prajatantra Party from the same constituency, got 10,998 votes.

Dr. Shekhar Koirala is the second NC candidate who won a HoR seat from Morang-6. Dr. Koirala, who received 35,224 votes, won against UML’s Lal Babu Pandit, who got 22,946 votes.

While Yogendra Mandal, an independent candidate, won from Morang-5 with 21,820 votes, Rishikesh Pokhrel opened the account for CPN-UML from Morang-2 with 33,148 votes. Mandal’s nearest competitor was Shiva Kumar from CPN (Maoist Centre) who received 17,486 votes. Likewise, Pokhrel won against NC’s Sujata Koirala (31,940 votes).

For the PA, CPN (Maoist Centre) candidate Ganesh recently won from Morang 2(B). He won after receiving 14,933 votes against his nearest competitor Dan Bahadur Basnet of UML (14,678 votes). There were 12 candidates from this provincial constituency.

Regarding the coalition candidates, Man Bahadur Limbu of NC won from Morang 3(A) with 19,749 votes, Bhim Parajuli of NC won from Morang 4(B) with 11,479 votes, Gyanendra Mandal Gangai from Morang 5(A) with 14,843 votes, NC’s Amrit Kumar Aryal from 5(B) with 16,102 votes, Jeewan Acharya of CPN (Maoist) from Morang 6(A) with 19,454 votes, and NC’s Kedar Karki from Morang 6(B) with 10,431 votes.

Likewise, UML’s two candidates were declared winner from two PA constituencies recently. 

UML’s Gyanendra Subedi won from Morang 3(B) with 17,428 votes, and Khadga Bahadur Basnet won from Morang 1(B) with 14,539 votes.

Subedi’s nearest competitor was CPN (Unified Socialist) candidate Laxmi Kumar Shrestha (15,538 votes) and Basnet’s competitor was former Province 1 Minister for Transportation and Communication and CPN (US) candidate Upendra Prasad Ghimire (13,863 votes).

Other UML candidates elected to PA are Umakanta Gautam from 1(A), Lila Ballav Adhikari from 2(B) and Jay Prakash Chaudhary from 4(A).