By Our Reporter
The CPN-UML candidates won the by-election held in both Ilam and Bajhang districts.
While in Ilam, Suhang Nembang, the son of late Subas Nembang was elected to the House of Representatives with a big margin, in Bajhang Daman Bahadur Bhandari was elected to the Sudurpaschim Province Assembly with a small margin.
In the vote counting that concluded Tuesday morning, Suhang Nembang of the UML was elected from Ilam by securing 27,772 votes while his nearest rival Dambar Khadka of the Nepali Congress got 21, 942 votes. Likewise, a pro-identity group supported candidate Dakendra Singh Limbu got 11,457 votes. However, much-hyped Rastriya Swatantra Party candidate Milan Limbu even failed to secure his deposit as he garnered less than 10 per cent votes. He got only 5,050 votes out of a valid 68,472 votes, which is only 7.3 per cent.
Likewise, in Bajhang, Bhandari got 11,612 votes and his closest rival NC’s Abhishekh Bahadur Singh got 11,346 votes.
In the 2022 election, Ilam’s seat was won by UML’s Subas Nembang who passed away in September last year while the Bajhang seat was won by NC’s Prithvi Bahadur Singh who died in a car accident in June last year. It means NC lost a seat in Sudurpashchim province in the by-election and UML retained its seats in the Federal Parliament.
Both UML and NC candidates failed to secure the votes they garnered in the 2022 elections in both districts. While Subas Nembang was elected with 30,020 votes, Suhang got only 27,772 even when the Maoist Centre and Biplav-led party had supported him, while his father was the sole candidate of the UML. Likewise, Dambar Khadka of the NC lost the 2022 election to Subas by just 114 votes. Khadka had secured 29,906 votes then, but this time he got only 21, 942 votes, almost less by 8,000 votes. However, Khadak was the common candidate of the ruling parties—NC, Maoist Centre and CPN (Unified Socialist) in 2022. It seemed independent candidate Thegim and RSP stole their votes this time.
Likewise, in Bajhang, UML’s Afilal Okheda had lost the election to NC’s Singh even by securing 13, 376 votes in 2022. Then Prithvi Bahadur Singh of NC was elected by garnering 17,112 votes. But Bhandari won this time by garnering only 11,612 votes. Then Singh was the common candidate of the then-ruling parties. This time, all parties contested the election independently in Bajhang.
The by-election results have boosted the morale of the UML. It also proved that UML has a strong organization base across the country and the new forces cannot steal its traditional voters.
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