Counting of votes has stalled in Sunsari-3 following a dispute after nine ballot papers with ‘perforated portion’ were found on Monday. The federal constituency has attracted attention with Nepali Congress (NC) candidate Bijaya Gachhadar trailing behind CPN-UML candidate Bhagwati Chaudhary by a slim margin.

The counting was underway at Inaruwa-based district coordination committee hall.

After the counting stalled, representatives of left alliance and Nepali Congress have been holding a meeting to resolve the dispute.

According to District Election Office Sunsari, the counting will resume soon as it was stalled due to some technical problems.  Security has been stepped up around the counting venue following the dispute.

Of the 85197 votes cast in the constituency, Chaudary has received 29326 votes against Gachhadar’s 29171 votes.