Twelve Former Ministers and Two Former Chief Ministers Rejected by Voters in Lumbini Province Federal Polls

Butwal. Twelve former ministers and two former chief ministers who contested for the House of Representatives seat from Lumbini Province have been rejected by voters this time. Many experienced leaders, who repeatedly won elections to become ministers, were not only defeated this time, but some are also on the verge of losing their deposits.

Fourteen former ministers and two former chief ministers from various districts of the province contested the House of Representatives election. Most of these leaders failed to reach the parliament.

Hridyesh Tripathi, who repeatedly won elections and became a minister from Nawalparasi, was rejected by the voters this time. In the same district's Constituency No. 2, Dhruv Bahadur Pradhan of RPP was relegated to fourth place. In the 2079 election, he won from the same constituency and briefly served as the Minister of Law.

Sarvendra Nath Shukla, who repeatedly contested elections from Rupandehi Constituency No. 4, was also defeated this time. Shukla is also a former minister. Contesting as a candidate from the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal, he secured only 3,410 votes. The winner from that constituency was the Rastriya Swatantra Party candidate Kanhaiya Baniya, who was elected with 28,666 votes.

In Rupandehi Constituency No. 2, Vishnu Prasad Paudel, Vice-Chairman of CPN-UML and a multiple-time minister, was defeated by the young Rastriya Swatantra Party candidate Sulabh Kharel by a huge margin. Paudel received 12,861 votes, while Kharel secured 56,560 votes. The 28-year-old Kharel 'broke' Paudel's parliamentary journey, who had been winning continuously since 2064 BS.

Former Minister Som Prasad Pandey was also defeated in Palpa Constituency No. 2. While Madhav Bahadur Thapa of the Rastriya Swatantra Party was elected from that constituency, Pandey was limited to fourth place.

In Gulmi, both former ministers and Vice-Chairmen of CPN-UML, Gokul Bista and Pradeep Gyawali, were defeated. Gyawali was a candidate in Gulmi-1 and Bista in Gulmi-2.

In Bardiya Constituency No. 2, Nepali Congress leader and former minister Sanjay Kumar Gautam was also defeated. He was limited to third place.

Similarly, former Minister of Urban Development Metmani Chaudhary was relegated to fourth place in Dang Constituency No. 1, while Nepali Congress leader and former minister Deepak Giri was defeated in Dang Constituency No. 3.

In Kapilvastu Constituency No. 2, Surendra Acharya, who was elected from Congress and became a minister, was defeated this time. In the same constituency, former minister Brijesh Kumar Gupta, who had been elected as a member of parliament four times by changing parties in the past, was also rejected by the voters. He was defeated by a large margin by the Rastriya Swatantra Party candidate Bikram Singh Thapa.

• Two Former Chief Ministers Also Defeated

Two former chief ministers of Lumbini Province were also rejected by the voters this time. Shankar Pokhrel, the founding Chief Minister of the province and General Secretary of CPN-UML, was defeated in Dang Constituency No. 2.

Likewise, former Chief Minister of Lumbini Province Kul Prasad KC was defeated in Dang Constituency No. 1. KC, who became Chief Minister after being a Provincial Assembly member from Maoist, contested the election as an independent candidate this time. His deposit has also been forfeited.

• Some Former Ministers Succeed in Getting Elected

Former ministers contested the election field in 11 out of the 12 districts of Lumbini Province, except for Pyuthan. Although many leaders were defeated among them, some were elected.

Former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' was elected in Rukum East. Similarly, former minister Barshaman Pun was also elected in Rolpa.

Mohammad Istiyak Rai also succeeded in getting elected in Banke Constituency No. 2. Rai, who contested as a candidate from CPN-UML after changing parties at the last moment of the election, was given another opportunity to go to parliament by the voters.