KATHMANDU, March 17: Eight hundred and twenty-nine votes were cast in the election to the Vice President held at the Federal Parliament Building at New Baneshwar on Friday. A total of 882 voters including 332 members of the federal parliament and 550 members of the Province Assembly were expected to vote in the election. 

Out of the 332 federal parliament (National Assembly and House of Representatives) members, two seats are vacant. The MP post of Rabi Lamichhane has fallen vacant after the Supreme Court annulled it pronouncing a verdict in a case related to his citizenship while Tek Bahadur Gurung is under suspension. 

In the voting today, 14 federal parliamentarians of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and one of Nepal Workers and Peasants' Party (NWPP) remained neutral and did not vote. 

Likewise, Ramchandra Paudel has been elected the President while MPs Chandra Bhandari, Barsha Man Pun and Manorama Sherchan abstained from voting as they have fallen sick and are undergoing treatment. Similarly, Sahanaz Rahman passed away and Laxmi Mahato Koiri was absent as he had a pending court case against him. 

Among the provincial assembly members, 28 members of RPP and three of NWPP remained absent in the voting while one member of the Janata Samajbadi Party abstained from voting, the Election Commission said. 

The federal parliament (House of Representatives and National Assembly) and provincial assembly members vote to elect the vice president of the country. The vote weightage of a federal parliament member is 79 while that of a provincial assembly member is 48.

The voting that started at 10AM concluded at 3PM today. Astalaxmi Shakya (Bohara) of the CPN-UML, Mamata Jha of the Janamat Party and Ramsahaya Prasad Yadav of the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal are in the race for the post of vice president.

(RSS)

 
• Election
 
• Vice_President