Chairman Prachanda triumphs in Ktm-10 as his party takes initial lead (3:50pm)
According to latest reports, CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda has won in Kathmandu constituency-10 with a huge vote margin, as his party has also taken an initial lead in seat counts. Our reporter at the vote-counting center said that the official announcement for the same would be made shortly.
Prachanda, or Puhpa Kamal Dahal, secured 20,499 votes, almost double than his close rival Rajendra Kumar K.C of NC who got 11,103 votes. UML fared badly in this constituency also as in other Katmandu constituencies that used to be its stronghold. The party’s bet for the constituency, Sanu Kumar Shrestha, managed to garner just 6,216 votes.
Along with Prachanda, another Maoist leader and minister in Koirala cabinet Hisila Yami has retained the winning streak of the party by emerging victorious with 9273 votes in Kathmandu constituency-7. Her closest rival Rajendra Prasad Shrestha of UML has come second with 6,114 votes while Pramila Singh Dangol of NC has got 5680 votes.
Three other top Maoist leaders have already donned the victory cap in various places across the country, and they are – Krishna Bahadur Mahara from Dang 3, Dev Prasad Gurung from Manang-1 and Pampha Bhusal from Lalitpur-3. Senior Maoist leaders Ram Bahadur Thapa (Badal) and Dr Baburam Bhattarai are also ahead in their constituencies in Chitwan-2 and Gorkha-2 respectively and are expected to win with considerable margin.
According to latest Nepalnews count, Maoists leads the seat count with 14 constituencies to its name , while NC and UML have 4 seats each and NWPP trails with 2 seats. nepalnews.com ag Apr 12 08
