ITAHARI, Dec 1: With the election of Gyanendra Bahadur Karki as a member of the House of Representatives from Sunsari-4 with a slim margin of just 112 votes, Nepali Congress (NC) has secured victory in 55 constituencies under the First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system. While the NC is leading the ongoing vote count in Bajura and Syangja, the vote counting in Dolakha is expected to begin by Friday as re-election was held peacefully in 10 polling centers in the district on Thursday .
NC leader Karki, who is also the Minister for Communication and Information Technology, was elected for a second time by defeating UML's Jagdish Kusiyat from the UML-JSP alliance. Karki obtained 30,483 votes while Kusiyat secured 30,371 votes. Karki was elected from Sunsari-4 in the last election held in 2017 as well
This time, for the November 20 elections, there was competition between 25 candidates for a seat in the House of Representatives from Sunsari-4, for which 12 independent candidates and 13 political party candidates were in the fray. On the first two days of vote counting (November 21 and 22), Karki took the lead. For the next three consecutive days, UML's Kusiyat maintained a stable lead. Then on November 26, the counting of votes was postponed after the NC suspected rigging. By the time vote counting stopped, Karki had received 23,439 votes while Kusiyat had received 23,341 votes.
Even after holding an all-party meeting, Karki filed a complaint with the Election Commission to halt the process. After the Election Commission decided to continue vote count on Monday evening, an all-party meeting held on Tuesday morning decided to resume the counting of votes from four o'clock in the afternoon. When the counting resumed on Tuesday, it was difficult to predict who would be victorious since Karki and Kusiyat were continuously switching between first and second place. It was only possible to speculate the win during the last phase of vote counting.
Communication Minister Karki wins from Sunsari-4 by thin margin
Karki is known as a confidant of Prime Minister and Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba. Karki has become a minister several times during the Congress-led government.
NC's Karki lost from Bhojpur by a small margin in the parliamentary elections of 2056 and the first Constituent Assembly elections of 2064. He was a proportional representation candidate in the second Constituent Assembly election. In the 2074 election, Karki won by defeating UML's Ramesh Shrestha by a margin of 6,597 votes.
Kusiyat, who was defeated by Karki, is the UML’s district in-charge of Sunsari. He lost by a narrow margin in 2051 when he contested the election against the late leader Girija Prasad Koirala. He was victorious in the 2053 by-election. After winning from constituency 4 'A' in the year 2074, Kusiyat also became the Minister of Forests, Environment, Industry and Tourism in the UML-led government in Province 1.
Girija Prasad Koirala won from Sunsari-4 in the year 2048, in the midterm elections of 2051 and in the parliamentary elections of 2056 from constituency-5. UML's Kusiyat won the by-election in 2053. Girija Prasad Koirala's daughter Sujata was defeated in the first Constituent Assembly election of 2064.
Federal Socialist Forum Nepal Chairman Upendra Yadav won the first and second Constituent Assembly elections. In the 2074 election, Congress leader Gyanendra Bahadur Karki won by defeating UML's Ramesh Shrestha by a margin of 6,597 votes. This time, Karki won with difficulty.
Khadananda Mandal of Nepali Congress has emerged victorious in constituency 4 'A' under the provincial election. Mandal won by defeating JSP's Parshuram Basnet, who became a common candidate of the UML-JSP alliance.
In province 4 (A), 13 candidates were contesting. UML's Jagdish Kusiyat won from 4 'A' by getting 16,690 votes in 2074.
Haji Dr. Israil Mansuri has won from 4 (B). He won by getting 14,358 votes. His closest opponent, UML's Abbas Ansari, got 12,212 votes. In 2074, Tahir Miya of Nepali Congress won from 4 (B) by getting 11,825 votes.
So far, NC has won one HoR and two provincial assembly seats in Sunsari out of six HoR and eight provincial assembly seats. UML has won two HoR seats. In one HoR seat, the candidate of JSP has won. Similarly, UML candidates have won six province assembly seats.
