The Nepali Congress (NC), which is staring at a major electoral setback, had a slight relief on Saturday, as it claimed four out of 10 seats in Kathmandu, with leads in some constituencies of Province 2.

A rapid increase in numbers on the win column for the left alliance of the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre) shows the two communist forces are set to sweep the House of Representatives (HoR) and Provincial Assembly (PA) elections which were held on November 26 (32 districts) and December 7 (45 districts).

 The NC’s Gagan Thapa registered a comfortable win in Kathmandu-4, securing 21,558 votes. He defeated UML’s Rajan Bhattarai, who garnered 18,140 votes.

In Kathmandu-1, it was, however, a close contest.

NC’s Prakash Man Singh managed to win the constituency with a margin of 818 votes. Singh won in the constituency with 10,936 votes against Bibeksheel Sajha Party’s Rabindra Mishra who secured 10,118 votes. 

NC’s Rajendra Kumar KC (24,190) beat Maoist Centre’s Hitman Shakya (21,407) in Kathmandu-10. Kathmandu-6 was another constituency where NC’s Bhimsen Das Pradhan (16,785) won against Maoist Centre’s Jhhaku Prasad Subedi (15,485).

In Province 2, from where 32 members will be elected to the HoR, the NC was leading in two constituencies each in Sarlahi, Rautahat and Parsa. 

The NC on Saturday faced major upsets in Morang in Province 1. The district with six constituencies was traditionally believed to be the party’s stronghold.

Shekhar Koirala lost to UML’s Lalbabu Pandit in Morang-6 while Mahesh Acharya was defeated by Maoist Centre’s Aman Lal Modi in Morang-4. Morang-2 was the only saving grace for the NC, where the party’s Minendra Rijal defeated UML’s Rishikesh Pokhrel.

The left alliance claimed other three constituencies.

In Kathmandu-8, NC’s Nabindra Raj Joshi faced defeat at the hands of UML’s Jeevan Ram Shrestha.

Of the 37 HoR seats for which elections were held in 32 districts in the first phase, the NC managed to win only in Rasuwa. NC leaders now are hoping that the party may bag some seats through the proportional representation (PR) votes. Preliminary vote counting for the PR category showed NC ahead.

NC leader Gagan Thapa on Saturday described the federal parliament and provincial assembly election results as “a disaster for the party”. “The results call for a serious discussion in the party,” Thapa told the Post, adding that there is an urgent need of reforms in the Congress party.