Deposits of Nine Out of 12 Candidates Forfeited in Lamjung House of Representatives Election

Lamjung. In the House of Representatives election held on Thursday, the deposits of nine out of 12 candidates in Lamjung have been forfeited.

Their deposits were forfeited because they failed to secure 10 percent of the total valid votes, as per Section 71 (1) of the House of Representatives Election Act, 2074. Yadavraj Acharya, Chief of the District Election Office, stated that their deposits were forfeited as they could not secure more than 10 percent of the total valid votes, which amounted to 7,000 votes out of 73,010 total valid votes.  

According to him, the candidates whose deposits were forfeited include Harijung Tamang of CPN (UML), Kebindrajung Gurung of RPP, Koshlal Gurung of Shram Sanskriti Party, Gujeshwar Prajapati Magaju of Nepal Workers' and Peasants' Party, Bikash Gurung of Mongol National Organisation, Milan Baskota of Janadesh Nepal, Rabindra Nakhola of CPN (Maoist), Bharat Gurung of National Republic Nepal, and independent candidate Santosh Ghimire.

Among those whose deposits were forfeited, Tamang of CPN (UML) received the highest number of votes at 3,371, followed by Gurung of RPP with 1,000, and Gurung of Shram Sanskriti Party with 565 votes. Other candidates could not even cross 500 votes.

Dharma Raj KC of RSP, who won from Lamjung, received 33,898 votes, Prithvi Subba Gurung of CPN-UML received 16,876 votes, and Gam Prasad Gurung of Nepali Congress received 16,569 votes.

There is a legal provision for the forfeiture of deposits if a candidate fails to secure 10 percent of the total valid votes cast. According to Section 70 (1) of the Election Act, direct candidates must deposit a security amount of Rs 10,000. Sub-section (2) of the same section provides a 50 percent discount on the deposit amount mentioned in sub-section (1) for candidates belonging to women, Dalit, or minority communities.

According to Section 64 of the House of Representatives Election Directive-2082, candidates who receive less than 10 percent of the total valid votes cast in an election based on the first-past-the-post system shall have their deposits forfeited.

In Lamjung, which has only one federal constituency, 75,460 votes were cast out of 137,124 registered voters. The District Election Office reported that 73,010 votes were valid. According to this office, 2,450 votes were declared invalid in the direct election. District Election Office Chief Acharya stated that such a high number of invalid votes were due to reasons such as stamping more than one symbol or voter confusion. The district had 130 polling stations and 193 polling centers, including one temporary center.