Nearly half of 56 National Assembly members elected unopposed

Kathmandu / Jan 30: Nearly half of the total 56 members of the upper house to be elected have been elected unopposed.

Among the total upper house members elected unopposed, nine are from the CPN-UML, eight from the Nepali Congress and three from the CPN (Maoist Center). Two members each were elected unopposed from the Rastriya Janata Party Nepal and the Federal Socialist Forum Nepal.

While some parties have withdrawn the candidacies of some of their candidates, the parties which have no chance to win did not field their candidates for the elections. Since all members from Province 2 have been elected unopposed there will be no election in the the southern plain of the country, election officials say.

The election slated for February 7 will elect the remaining 32 members. According to the details provided by the provincial election officers, 52 candidates are contesting for the remaining 32 seats of the upper house.

According to the Election Commission, Umesh Jung Rayamajhi, Sarita Prasai, Jitendra Narayan Dev, Mukta Kumari Yadav, Prakash Pantha, Anita Devkota, Badri Prasad Pandey and Tara Devi Bhatta of Nepali Congress have been elected unopposed. Similarly, Parshu Meghi Gurung, Hari Charan Shiwakoti, Nainkala Ojha, Sumaraj Pyakurel, Komal Oli, Mina Budha, Sher Bahadur Kunwar, Indu Kadariya and Kamala Kumari Oli of the UML have also been elected unupposed.

Bina Pokharel, Shashikala Dahal, Hariram Chaudhary of the CPN (Maoist Center) have also been elected to the upper house. Ramprit Paswan and Pramila Kumari have been elected from the Federal Socialist Forum Nepal whereas Ramesh Prasad Yadav and Brikesh Chandra Lal were elected from the Rastriya Janata Party Nepal.

Constitutionally, the parties need to elect a 59-member National Assembly. The chiefs and deputy chiefs of the local units and provincial assembly members will vote to elect 56 members of the upper house whereas the government will nominate the remaining three members.

As part of electing the remaining candidates, election offices stationed in all seven provinces have distributed symbols to poll contesting parties. Source: Myrepublica