KATHMANDU, March 11: The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has achieved a majority victory in the House of Representatives election held on March 5. The party secured 125 seats under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system and has also received a large number of votes under the proportional representation category.
Among the party’s 125 directly elected lawmakers, 42 are leaders who previously belonged to other political parties and joined RSP in recent years. Their victories have been seen as a notable factor behind the party’s historic success.
The party appears to have had its strongest impact in Madhesh Province, where 17 elected MPs were formerly associated with other political parties.
In Sunsari-4, Deepak Kumar Sah, who left the Janamat Party and his own Sarvodaya Party, defeated Nepali Congress leader Gyanendra Bahadur Karki.
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Similarly, in Saptari-3, RSP candidate Amarkant Chaudhary defeated Janata Samajbadi Party Chair Upendra Yadav to secure a seat in parliament.
In Rautahat-1, former Nepali Congress leader Rajesh Kumar Chaudhary defeated CPN-UML’s Ajay Gupta and CPN leader Madhav Kumar Nepal.
The wave of support for RSP in the election dealt a major blow to several established political figures across the country.
In Morang, Santosh Rajbanshi defeated Nepali Congress General Secretary Gururaj Ghimire and CPN-UML’s Jeevan Ghimire.
Similarly, in Tanahun-1, former Nepali Congress leader Swarnim Wagle won under the RSP banner, while in Dhading-2, former Maoist leader Bodhnarayan Shrestha also secured victory for the party.
Competition among candidates in the Kathmandu Valley was also intense during the election. RSP won 10 constituencies in Kathmandu, while in Bhaktapur-2, Rukesh Ranjit, who has an UML background, defeated Nepal Workers and Peasants Party leader Prem Suwal.
As RSP secured victories across several constituencies and gained strong public support, the election results have posed a significant challenge to the country’s long-standing political establishment.
