15 women candidates lose election being close contenders

Out of 165 constituencies, 162 constituencies have got results for the November 20 elections to the House of Representatives (HoR) and Province Assembly. Nine women candidates have been elected to the House of HoR, while 15 have lost the election, but being nearest contenders.

Among 15 women candidates who emerged nearest rival but lost the election, three are each from Province-1 and Sudurpaschim Province, one each from Karnali Province, Gandaki Province, Madhes Province and Bagmati Province, and five from Lumbini Province. Interestingly, most of them are former lawmakers.

According to the Election Commission, in Province-1, Nepali Congress' Sujata Koirala lost election to Rishikesh Pokharel with the margin of 1,208 votes in constituency no 2 of Morang. Goma Tamang of Rastriya Swatantra Party lost election to Ashok Rai with 453 votes in Sunsari-1. Although Tamang was taking a lead since the beginning of vote count, she finally lost the race.

Another candidate to lose election is UML's Manju Kumari Chaudhari from Udayapur-1. She was defeated by NC's Dr Narayan Khadka with margin of 2,379 votes.

Likewise, in Madhes Province, NC's Chitralekha Yadav was defeated by Janata Samajbadi Party's Raj Kishor Yadav with the margin of 1,150 votes.

CPN Maoist Centre's Goma Gautam Kunwar lost the election to Gyanendra Bahadur Shahi of Rastriya Prajatantra Party in Jumla-1, Karnali Province. Shahi collected 22,819 votes while Gautam got 11,959 votes.

Shanta Chaudhari was nearest rival of Metmani Chaudhari of CPN (Unified Socialist) in Dang-1, Lumbini Province. In Dang-3, UML's Komal Oli lost election to NC's Dipak Giri. Durga Poudel of Rastriya Janamorcha lost election to Surya Thapa of CPN UML in Pyuthan-1. The vote margin was of 5,000.

Moreover, Pushpa Bhushal of NC was defeated by UML's Top Bahadur Rayamajhi with the margin of 1,730 votes in Arghakhnachi-1.

Ram Kumari Jhankri of CPN (Unified Socialist) was defeated by UML's Gokarna Raj Bista with 2,035 vote margin in Gulmi-2.

UML's Manju Sharma was routed by Maoist Centre's Devendra Poudel in Baglung-2.

Although taken a lead in vote count since the beginning, Mahalaxmi Upadhyay (Dina) was routed by Dipak Bahadur Singh of RPP in Makwanpur-1. She lost the election with 2,386 votes.

The EC update further showed that UML's Tara Lama Tamang defeated Bina Magar of CPN Maoist Centre in Kanchnapur-1. Niru Devi Pal lost the election to NC's candidate Ramesh Lekhak in Kanchanpur-2.

Moreover, in Doti-1, Gauri Kumari Oli of CPN UML was routed by Prem Bahadur Ale of CPN (Unified Socialist) with vote margin of 4,206.

Making review of the election, UML leader Pal said, "Major obstacle to her victory was electoral alliance of ruling parties."

Similarly, NC's leader Koirala observed, "I did not receive cooperation from alliance itself. Internal organization was also weak. All parties in alliance did not vote for me."

Komal Oli of UML has different observation that her votes were curtailed because of huge number of invalid votes. It is behind lack of voter literacy.

Tamang of Rastriya Swatantra Party viewed although she lost election, she had won public trust.