14 women elected under FPTP system

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Mar. 11: A total of 14 women candidates have been elected to the House of Representatives (HoR) under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system, accounting for 8.5 per cent of the FPTP seats. Of them, 13 are elected from the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and one from the Nepali Congress. No women candidates from other parties secured victory under the FPTP system. 

The RSP candidates elected to the Lower House include Nisha Dangi from Jhapa-1, former Deputy Speaker Indira Rana Magar from Jhapa-2, Asha Jha from Morang-5, Rubina Acharya from Morang-6, Pushpa Kumari Chaudhary from Saptari-1, Gauri Kumari from Mahottari-4, Nitima Bhandari from Sarlahi-1, Ashika Tamang from Dhading-1, Ranju Darshana from Kathmandu-1, Toshima Karki from Lalitpur-3, Sobita Gautam from Chitwan-3, Bina Gurung from Kaski-3, and Komal Gyawali from Kailali-1.

Nisha Dangi secured 45,680 votes, defeating her closest rival from Nepali Congress who received 10,550 votes. Former Deputy Speaker Indira Rana Magar won with 60,110 votes, defeating former Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire of the CPN-UML.

Similarly, Asha Jha garnered 30,434 votes, while her nearest competitor Phul Kumar Lalbani of Nepali Congress received 9,415 votes. Rubina Acharya secured victory with 55,513 votes, defeating veteran Nepali Congress leader Dr. Shekhar Koirala, who obtained only 12,850 votes.

Pushpa Kumari Chaudhary won the Saptari-1 seat with 38,195 votes, defeating Sumit Kumar of Swabhiman Party, who secured 7,847 votes. Nitima Bhandari received 44,181 votes, while her closest contender Shambhu Lal Shrestha got 7,871 votes.

Ranju Darshana was elected from Kathmandu-1 with 15,455 votes, defeating Nepali Congress candidate Prabal Thapa Chettri. Likewise, Ashika Tamang secured victory with 39,128 votes, defeating CPN-UML candidate Bhumi Prasad Tripathi, who received 15,032 votes.

Toshima Karki won Lalitpur-3 with 43,096 votes against Nepali Congress candidate Jitendra Kumar Shrestha, who received 9,045 votes. Sobita Gautam was elected from Chitwan-3 with 59,277 votes, defeating CPN (Maoist Centre) leader and former Chitwan mayor Renu Dahal, who received 20,615 votes.

Similarly, Bina Gurung secured 37,750 votes, defeating her closest rival Manoj Gurung, who received 12,780 votes. Komal Gyawali won Kailali-1 with 17,826 votes, while her nearest competitor received 12,867 votes.

Basana Thapa of Nepali Congress is the only woman from her party elected through the FPTP system. She won the Dailekh-1 seat with 12,372 votes, narrowly defeating CPN-UML candidate Rabindra Raj Sharma, who secured 11,796 votes.

Of the total candidates who contested the election under the FPTP system, around 10 per cent of them (3,484) were females. Of them, RSP had fielded the highest number of women candidates at nine per cent, while the established and old parties like, the UML, NC, NCP and Rastriya Prajatantra Party fielded just 6 per cent female candidates. 

The number of women elected directly to the House of Representatives has increased compared to previous elections. In the 2022 election, nine women (5.5 per cent) were elected under the FPTP system, while only six women (3.6 per cent) won in the 2017 election.

Earlier, in the 2008 Constituent Assembly (CA) election, 30 women were elected directly out of 240 seats under the FPTP system. However, the number dropped to just 10 women in the 2013 CA election, representing 4.17 per cent of the seats.

Compared to the previous elections, the latest poll has seen a higher number of women elected through the FPTP system. 

Although there are only 8.5 per cent women candidates elected from the direct poll in the Lower House, the number of women will increase further through the proportional representation (PR) system, as the Constitution requires at least 33 per cent representation of women in the federal Parliament through a combination of FPTP and PR seats.

Although most political parties nominate women in constituencies where they are unlikely to win, the unexpected surge of the RSP in this election led to many of its female candidates securing victory.