Vote counting in Sunsari-3 stalled on Monday after a currency note and a counterfoil of the ballot were found during counting. 

Tensions flared at the counting centre in the district coordination committee hall, with Nepal Congress’ Bijaya Kumar Gachchadar and CPN-UML candidate Bhagwati Chaudhary accusing each other of trying to rig votes. 

Chaudary was leading the race with 29,326 votes against Gachhadar’s 29,171 when the counting stalled. 

Chief election officer Purushottam Dahal said the election office tried to resolve the dispute all day but to no avail. (PR)