Kathmandu, March 6: Vote counting from Thursday’s House of Representatives election is still underway. Early results indicate a strong nationwide surge in support for the Rastriya Swatantra Party. At the same time, traditional parties such as the Nepali Congress, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), and the Nepal Communist Party appear to be on the defensive.
The party has secured comfortable victories in several constituencies that were once considered strongholds of the Congress and the UML. Across most constituencies in the Kathmandu Valley, RSP candidates have taken the lead. The party has already won seats in Kathmandu constituencies 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10, while it remains ahead in the remaining areas. It has also won both constituencies in Kaski. Current trends suggest that the party may secure a clear majority.
The RSP wave has led to the defeat of several political heavyweights. Even senior leaders such as former prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli of the UML and Congress leader Gagan Thapa are reportedly in a difficult position in their constituencies.
According to the results announced so far, two sitting general secretaries of the Nepali Congress have lost their seats by large margins to RSP candidates. The outcomes in Kathmandu Constituency 5 and Morang Constituency 4 have shaken the political standing of several well-known leaders.
The result from Kathmandu 5, one of the most closely watched constituencies in the country, shows clear voter dissatisfaction with older political forces and growing support for alternative political actors.
In Kathmandu 5, Sasmita Pokharel of the RSP won the seat with 30,737 votes. His closest rival, Congress General Secretary Pradeep Paudel, secured only 9,159 votes.
Senior UML leader Ishwar Pokhrel finished far behind with 4,701 votes. Several prominent leaders, including Kamal Thapa, were also in the race, yet Pokharel defeated all major contenders by a wide margin.
In the 2022 election, Paudel had won this seat with 15,269 votes. His closest rival at that time was Ishwar Pokhrel with 10,190 votes, while RSP candidate Pranay Shamsher Rana finished third with 5,477 votes.
This time, Pokharel broke the long-standing dominance of established parties in the constituency. He had previously worked on Balen Shah’s campaign during the 2022 Kathmandu mayoral election. By defeating several powerful candidates, he has now entered national politics.
The result from Morang Constituency 4 also surprised many observers. In this seat, Santosh Rajbanshi of the RSP won with 40,833 votes.
Before the election, many political observers did not consider Rajbanshi a strong contender. Coming from a modest background, he defeated Congress General Secretary Gururaj Ghimire, who had been expected to perform strongly in the constituency.
Rajbanshi defeated Ghimire by a margin of more than 28,000 votes. Ghimire received only 12,818 votes.
Before the election, analysts had predicted a close contest among Ghimire of the Congress, Amanlal Modi of the Maoist Centre, and UML candidate Jeevan Ghimire. Yet the final result showed a clear victory for the RSP candidate.
Modi received 10,762 votes, while Jeevan Ghimire secured 6,933 votes. None of the established leaders came close to Rajbanshi in the final tally.
The results send a clear signal in Nepali politics. Two senior leaders of the Nepali Congress, Pradeep Paudel and Gururaj Ghimire, both serving as general secretaries of the party, lost by large margins to relatively new and younger candidates from the RSP.
This outcome suggests that many voters are no longer guided only by party history, election symbols, or the long-standing reputation of leaders.
From the politically aware urban electorate of Kathmandu to the socially mixed communities of Morang, the RSP wave shows growing public support for alternative political leadership and expectations of better governance.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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