Nepal's ruling alliance wins 18 of 19 seats in National Assembly polls

Kathmandu, Jan 25 (PTI) Nepal's ruling alliance on Thursday won 18 out of the 19 vacant seats in the National Assembly, while the main Opposition secured only one seat in the polls, according to election commission sources.

The voting for the National Assembly (NA), which is the upper House of the Parliament, began early Thursday. The term of 20 lawmakers in the 59-member NA is expiring on March 3, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.

The main Opposition Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) secured the only seat in the Koshi province while the ruling alliance made a clean sweep in all other six provinces, according to Election Commission sources.

From the ruling alliance, the Nepali Congress won 10 seats, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) registered a victory in five seats, the Communist Party Nepal (Unified Socialist) secured two seats while the Janata Samajwadi Party secured one seat.

With the results of the NA election, the CPN-Maoist Centre will be the largest party with 18 seats in the 59-seat National Assembly.

Every two years, one-third of the seats remain vacant as per the provision of the Constitution.

While 19 seats of the NA are filled through elections, one member will be nominated by the President on the Cabinet’s recommendation. A total of 51 candidates from eight political parties are in the election race, the report said. PTI SBP GRS AKJ GRS GRS