Sarlahi, the district in the Madhesh Province, sends non members to the House of the Representatives through the recent elections to the Member of House of Representatives (HoR). But, one woman has been elected to the Madhesh Province Assembly from the district through the Province Assembly (PA) poll. The voting for the twin elections were held on November 20.
The district has four seats under the HoR followed by eight under the PA. Over 65 candidates including four women (one from the Hamro Party Nepal and three independents) were in the race for four seats in the federal parliament, but none of them were elected.
Similarly, according to the District Election Office, five women had fielded their candidacies for the PA seats from Sarlahi-1 (2), one from Sarlahi-2(1), two from Sarlahi-2(2), one from Sarlahi-3(1) and one from Sarlahi-3(2). But only Bechi Lungeli of the CPN (Unified Socialist) is the sole woman candidate representing Sarlahi in the Madesh Province Assembly.
The common candidate of the ruling alliance won the election from Sarlahi-1(2) over CPN (UML) candidate Shanti Kumari Lama by a margin of 6,619 votes. Out of 38,272 votes cast in the election, she secured 13,677.
Neither women's candidacies were encouraging nor were the results in favor of them, observed rights activist Ambika Raut.
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