Kathmandu, March 11: Vote counting under the proportional representation system for the House of Representatives election has reached its final stage. Even before the count ends, it has become clear that several parties led by former prime ministers, deputy prime ministers, and ministers will fail to cross the required threshold.
Two parties that had secured proportional seats in the 2022 election, the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal and the Janamat Party, are unlikely to pass the threshold this time.
Out of about 16.5 million votes counted so far, the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal has received 174,135 votes, which is below two per cent of the total counted ballots.
The party is led by former deputy prime minister Upendra Yadav. In the previous election, it had secured nearly four per cent of the vote and won five proportional seats. Ahead of this election, the party had merged with several groups, including the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party led by Mahanta Thakur, the Janata Pragatisheel Party of Hridayesh Tripathi, and the Tarai Madhesh Loktantrik Party led by Brishesh Chandra Lal.
The Janamat Party, led by Dr CK Raut, also appears certain to fall short. The party had won five seats in 2022 after securing 3.74 per cent of the proportional vote. This time it has received 78,726 votes.
Election law requires a party to secure at least three per cent of the total valid proportional votes to qualify for seats under the system.
The Rashtriya Parivartan Party has obtained 170,258 votes so far. The party had entered an electoral understanding with the Ujyalo Nepal Party led by Kulman Ghising, but its vote share also remains below the required three per cent.
The Janata Samajbadi Party led by Ashok Rai, the Rashtriya Mukti Party of Rajendra Mahato, and the Nagarik Unmukti Party led by Resham Chaudhary contested the election under the shared election symbol of a grinding stone. Together, they have secured 61,226 votes, far below the threshold.
Other smaller parties have also failed to make an impact. The Nepal Workers and Peasants Party led by Narayanman Bijukchhe, has received 42,167 votes. The Rashtra Nirman Party has secured 38,817 votes, while the Rashtriya Janamorcha led by former prime minister Chitra Bahadur KC has obtained 29,390 votes.
The Nepal Federal Socialist Party of former state minister for home affairs Mohammad Rizwan Ansari contested the election with the Bahujan Ekata Party Nepal and the Nepal Janajagriti Party under the common election symbol of a bus. That symbol has received 28,239 votes.
The Progressive Democratic Party, founded by former prime minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai and former minister Janardan Sharma, has received 24,490 votes.
Similarly, the Communist Party of Nepal Maoist led by Netra Bikram Chand Biplav has secured 23,758 votes as of Tuesday night.
The CPN ML, led by former deputy prime minister CP Mainali, has received 6,059 votes, while the CPN Unified, led by former minister Chandradev Joshi, has secured 4,478 votes.
None of the parties mentioned above has won any seat under the direct election system either.
People’s News Monitoring Service
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