Over 47,000 votes invalid in Sunsari

BY JAYA KRISHNA YADAV,Inruwa, Dec. 4: Due to the lack of voter education, more than 47,000 votes cast in the recently held election to the House of Representatives (HoR) and the Provincial Assemblies (PA) in Proportionate (PR) category have been invalid in the four constituencies of Sunsari. Of them, 6.23 per cent (20,399 votes) for HoR and 8.62 per cent (27,403) for PA were invalid. 

A total of 47,802 votes were invalid in the district. There were a total of 544,941 voters in Sunsari and 337,897 votes were cast in the PR category for HoR election and 344,963 votes for PA election.

Similarly, in First-Past-the-Post category for the HoR election, a total of 346,471 votes were cast in the district. Of which, 23,361 were invalid. In PA election, 17,207 votes were invalid out of a total of 345,600 votes. 

Meanwhile, in Sunsari Constituency 2, out of 27 candidates for the HoR, 24 (90 per cent of the total candidates) lost their security deposit for failing to garner the minimum number of votes. Here, CPN-UML’ Bhim Prasad Acharya had won in the election securing 32,024 votes. His closest rivals Nepali Congress’s Sitaram Mahato got 26,068 votes and Rastriya Swotantra Party’s Lal Bikram Thapa got 196,391 votes. Rest of the other candidates could not garner 10 per cent of the total votes. Each candidate is required to deposit Rs. 10,000 as a collateral while filing nomination. 

Likewise, in Sunsari Constituency 2 (A), only three candidates were able to get back their deposit out of 18 candidates. Here, CPN-UML’s Rewati Raman Bhadari became victorious garnering 14,535 votes. CPN (Maoist Centre)’s Dwarika Lal Chaudhary received 11,852 votes and Rastriya Prajatantra Party’s candidate got 9,333 votes.   

In Sunsari Constituency 2 (B), out of 10 candidates, only two were able to save their deposit. CPN-UML’s Ram Prasad Mehta won the election securing 18,209 votes. His closest competitor Nepali Congress’s Rajeeb Koirala got 17,643 votes.