Three members are being elected from Lumbini Province, including women, disabled/minority, and others.
What you should know
The election for the National Assembly member of Lumbini Province has begun in Ghorahi this morning. Voting began at 9 am.
Voting is going on at the Ghorahi-based Employee Meeting Center until 3 pm. Election Officer Prakash Prasad Pandit said that preparations are underway to count the votes at the polling station within 2 hours of the completion of the voting and announce the results.
Eight candidates are competing for three National Assembly members from Lumbini Province. There are three candidates from the Congress-UML alliance, three from the Nepali Communist Party and two from the Rastriya Janamorcha.
Three members are being elected from Lumbini Province, including women, disabled/minorities and others. For which, the Congress and the UML have coordinated and registered their candidacies. The UML had a quota for women, while the Congress had a quota for disabled and other groups. Accordingly, Ram Kumari Jhankri of Madane Rural Municipality-4, Gulmi is the candidate from the UML.
Jhankri is a former Urban Development Minister. She was the central secretary of the CPN-Unified Socialist Party. Now, after returning to the UML, she has got the opportunity to become a candidate for the National Assembly member. Jhankri, who established herself in politics through the student movement, is also the former central president of the Nepali National Federation of Students Unions (ANFSWU).
From the Congress, candidates are Lamahi Municipality-3 in the disabled quota, Basudev Ghimire of Dang and Resunga Municipality-3 in the other quota, and Chandra Bahadur KC of Gulmi. They are old leaders of the Congress.
Similarly, the Nepali Communist Party has also fielded candidates in all three members. From the women's quota, Barangdi Rural Municipality-1, Durga Kumari Bhandari of Palpa, Baijanath Rural Municipality-5 in the disabled, Sarjan BK of Banke and others have filed their candidacies, and Brihaspati Adhikari of Nawalparasi (Bardaghat Susta West) has filed his candidacy.
There are candidates from the National Janamorcha in the women's and other quotas. Among women, Padma Pandit of Pyuthan and Mallarani Rural Municipality-2 in the other quota, and Bom Bahadur Khatri of Pyuthan are contesting.
The terms of Gopal Bhattarai, elected from UML, National Assembly Vice-Chairman Bimala Ghimire and then Maoist Center's Jag Prasad Sharma are ending on Falgun 20. Bhattarai, Ghimire and Sharma were members from the women's quota and the disabled quota.
There are 305 voters in Lumbini Province, including 87 provincial assembly members and 218 mayors and deputy mayors of 109 local levels, out of which there are currently 299 voters. Election Officer Pandit said that the number of voters has decreased as 4 provincial assembly members and one municipal mayor have resigned to become candidates for the House of Representatives election and one municipal mayor is vacant.
