Majority of Candidates Lose Deposits in Kathmandu-1 Election, Only Three Secure Bail

Kathmandu. In the final vote count for Kathmandu Constituency No. 1 under the House of Representatives Election 2082, the majority of candidates failed to secure their security deposits. Out of a total of 29 candidates competing in the constituency, only three, including the winning candidate, managed to retain their deposits.

The deposits of the remaining 26 candidates have been forfeited. According to the legal provision in Section 64 of Chapter-10 (Miscellaneous) of the Election Act, in a first-past-the-post electoral system, a candidate's deposit is forfeited if they receive less than ten percent of the total valid votes cast.

When summing up the votes received by all candidates in this constituency, the total valid votes stood at 29,082. Based on this, any candidate needed to secure at least 10 percent of the total valid votes, which is 2,908 votes, to save their deposit.

Ranjun Neupane, the candidate from the Rastriya Swatantra Party, surpassed this threshold and was elected. Similarly, Prabal Thapa Chhetri of the Nepali Congress and Rabindra Mishra of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party also secured their deposits. Apart from Neupane, who won with 15,455 votes, Thapa with 6,364 votes, and Mishra with 3,972 votes, no other candidate managed to cross the 10 percent threshold.

Even Mohan Raj Regmi, the candidate from a major party like CPN (UML), forfeited his deposit after securing only 1,618 votes. Other party candidates such as Mang Lal Shrestha of Ujyalo Nepal Party (466 votes), Samir Lama Tamang of Shram Sanskriti Party (426 votes), and Menuka Bhandari of the Communist Party of Nepal (345 votes) also failed to save their deposits.

The votes for candidates from parties such as the Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, Janata Samajbadi Party, and CPN (Maoist) did not even reach the three-digit mark.

In addition to party candidates, the deposits of 14 independent candidates, including Kushal Khatri, Sagar Joshi, Surendra Prasad Dhakal, and Asim Man Singh Basnyat, were also forfeited. Furthermore, candidates who received zero votes, such as Arjun Bahadur Shahi of the Nepal Janaseva Party, and those who received only 1 or 2 votes, lost the security deposits they submitted to the election office as per the law.

It is worth noting that Madan Bhandari and Bidhya Bhandari were previously elected from Kathmandu-1, the same constituency where the CPN (UML) has now forfeited its deposit.