Rastriya Swatantra Party Candidate Breaks Congress's 36-Year Hold in Nawalpur-1 Election

Pokhara. Congress, which had won every election for the past 36 years, has been defeated in Nawalpur-1 this time. Rajan Gautam of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has emerged victorious, breaking the impenetrable fortress of the Congress. Gautam, who challenged Dr. Shashank Koirala in the previous election, took such a significant lead this time that no other candidate could catch up. Ultimately, he won by a large margin.

Gautam secured 50,945 votes. His closest competitor, Balkrishna Ghimire of the Nepali Congress, received 16,293 votes. Similarly, CPN-UML candidate Bhagirath Sapkota was limited to 9,131 votes. The votes of other candidates were not noteworthy. The Nepali Congress had consistently won this constituency since 2048 BS (1991 AD).

In the last four elections (2064, 2070, 2074, and 2079 BS), leader Dr. Shashank Koirala had won. Congress members who had complained about giving the ticket to the same person recently saw a wave of defections to the RSP. However, this time the ticket distribution broke the pattern. Congress members were enthusiastic. They had assessed that giving the ticket to a new face would secure a win, but they became disappointed when the first counting results were announced.

Ghimire suffered a humiliating defeat right from Gaindakot, a stronghold of Congress and a municipality won by Congress. Ultimately, even combining the votes of all other parties could not match Gautam's vote count. The Nepali Congress has attributed this loss to the wave effect. Furthermore, leaders stated that internal problems also played a role.