KATHMANDU, March 9: The deposits of 493 candidates, including a former deputy prime minister, have been forfeited in the House of Representatives election held on March 5 across seven districts of the country.
According to the District Election Office, Kathmandu, deposits of 226 candidates contesting in the 10 electoral constituencies of Kathmandu were forfeited after they failed to secure the minimum required votes. Election Officer Thakur Prasad Bhattarai said candidates from parties including CPN-UML, Nepali Communist Party, Rastriya Janamorcha, Ujyalo Nepal Party, Shram Sanskriti Party, as well as several independents, lost their deposits.
In Kathmandu Constituency-1, deposits of 26 candidates, including UML candidate Mohan Raj Regmi, were forfeited. Similarly, 25 candidates in Constituency-2, including Rammani Phuyal, 19 in Constituency-3, including UML candidate Rameshwar Phuyal, and 25 candidates in Constituency-4 lost their deposits.
Likewise, 22 candidates in Constituency-5, including UML candidate Ishwar Pokharel, had their deposits forfeited. The number stands at 17 in Constituency-6, 26 in Constituency-7, 21 in Constituency-8, 22 in Constituency-9, and 23 in Constituency-10. Each candidate had deposited Rs 10,000 as election security.
Election deposits of nine candidates, including one from UML, c...
According to Section 71(1) of the House of Representatives Election Act, 2017, candidates who fail to secure at least 10 percent of the total valid votes lose the security deposit submitted to the election office.
In Kaski, deposits of 14 candidates in Constituency-1, 14 in Constituency-2, and 12 in Constituency-3 were forfeited, according to local election officials.
Similarly, 51 candidates in Dang lost their deposits. Information Officer Gehendra Kunwar of the Provincial Election Office said that in Dang Constituency-1, deposits of 12 candidates, including Nepali Communist Party candidate Metmani Chaudhary, UML candidate Revati Raman Sharma, and independent candidate Kul Prasad KC, were forfeited. Sharma and former Lumbini Chief Minister Kul Prasad KC were among those who failed to secure the required votes. In Dang Constituency-2, deposits of 20 candidates were forfeited.
In Ilam, deposits of 18 candidates were seized. Under the first-past-the-post system, eight of the 13 candidates in Constituency-1 and 10 of the 14 candidates in Constituency-2, including one independent candidate, failed to secure the required votes.
Those who lost their deposits include Jwala Nepal of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Tulsi Keshari Prajapati of the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, Buddhalal Meche of the Mongol National Organization, Dambar Singh Limbu of the Nepal Janamukti Party, Ram Prasad Limbu of the Federal Democratic National Forum, Naradmani Sangpang of the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist), Hari Bahadur Gurung of the Ujyalo Nepal Party, and Lila Bahadur Sunuwar of the Janata Samajbadi Party.
Likewise, seven candidates in Bhojpur and eight candidates in Baglung Constituency-1, including those from Rastriya Janamorcha, lost their deposits.
According to RSS correspondents, 143 candidates in Rupandehi and 63 candidates in Lalitpur also had their deposits forfeited. Lalitpur’s Chief Election Officer Punarama Khanal said the deposits of 40 party candidates and 23 independent candidates were seized.
