Kathmandu, January 26
The ruling alliance has swept the elections held on Wednesday in seven provinces for 19 members of the National Assembly, the upper house of the bicameral federal parliament.
The alliance won 18 positions whereas the main opposition, CPN-UML, won the last remaining seat in Province 1.
In most of the cases, the results were predictable as provincial assembly members and local unit officials, whose party affiliations are already known, were to cast votes for the elections.
In Province 1, however, things were a bit uncertain because the third force, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, had also fielded its candidates for all three positions. Further, as the results came out, it was also found that some other voters of the ruling and opposition camps switched sides, affecting the National Assembly poll results.
Consequently, only one of three candidates of the ruling alliance–Jayanti Rai representing women’s cluster–turned clearly victorious in the province. In the minority cluster, Sonam Geljen Sherpa of the UML won. In the ‘other’ category in the province, Gopal Basnet of the Nepali Congress representing the ruling coalition and Guru Baral of the UML received equal votes. The Election Commission declared Basnet victorious by drawing lots.
Winners’ list
Here is the list of winning candidates for the National Assembly as announced by the Election Commission:
| Province | Cluster | Winner | Party |
| Province 1 | Women | Jayanti Rai | CPN-Unified Socialist (Ruling alliance) |
| Minority and disabled | Sonam Geljen Sherpa | CPN-UML (Opposition) | |
| Others | Gopal Basnet | Nepali Congress (Ruling alliance) | |
| Madhes | Women | Urmila Aryal | CPN-Maoist Centre (Ruling alliance) |
| Others | Mohammad Khalid | JSPN (Ruling alliance) | |
| Bagmati | Women | Goma Devi Timalsina | CPN-Unified Socialist (Ruling alliance) |
| Others | Krishna Prasad Paudel | Nepali Congress (Ruling alliance) | |
| Gandaki | Women | Kamala Panta | Nepali Congress (Ruling alliance) |
| Dalits | Bhuwan Bahadur Sunar | CPN-Maoist Centre (Ruling alliance) | |
| Others | Suresh Kumar Ale Magar | CPN-Maoist Centre (Ruling alliance) | |
| Lumbini | Women | Rajendra Laxmi Gaire | CPN-Unified Socialist (Ruling alliance) |
| Dalits | Tul Kumar BK | Rastriya Janamorcha (Ruling alliance) | |
| Others | Yuba Raj Sharma | Nepali Congress (Ruling alliance) | |
| Karnali | Women | Durga Gurung | Nepali Congress (Ruling alliance) |
| Minority or disabled | Nar Bahadur Bista | CPN-Maoist Centre (Ruling alliance) | |
| Others | Udaya Bahadur Bohora | CPN-Unified Socialist (Ruling alliance) | |
| Sudurpaschim | Women | Madan Kumari Shah ‘Garima’ | CPN-Unified Socialist (Ruling alliance) |
| Dalits | Jagat Bahadur Parki | CPN-Maoist Centre (Ruling alliance) | |
| Others | Narayan Datta Mishra | Nepali Congress (Ruling alliance) |
Constitutional provision
The term of 20 lawmakers of the National Assembly is expiring on March 4, 2022. Whereas 19 have been elected to fill the vacancies, one will be appointed by the president.
The National Assembly has 59 members. As it is constituted as a “permanent” body, it is never fully dissolved. Rather, one-third of the members retire every two years and the next batch gets elected. The newly elected members stay in office for the next six years.
