Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Eight out of 11 candidates in the by-election in Bajhang-1 (A) seat of Sudurpashchim Province Assembly have lost their election deposits.
Damodar Bhandari of CPN-UML has been elected from the constituency with 11,612 votes. Abhishek Bahadur Singh of Nepali Congress came second with 11,346 votes, while Janak Budha of CPN (Maoist Center) was third with 3,831 votes.
As per the Province Assembly Election Act, 2017, election deposits of candidates failing to secure 10% of the total counted votes under the first-past-the-post (FPTP) election system will be seized. This meant candidates needed at least 2,971 votes to get their election deposits back.
Dil Bahadur Singh of CPN (Unified Socialist) finished fourth with 2,514 votes. But it was not sufficient to save his election deposit.
Other candidates losing election deposits include Kishor Khadka (242) of Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Ram Bahadur Jagri (35) of Janata Samajbadi Party. Likewise, independent candidates Gajendra Bahadur Thapa (35), Deepak Bahadur Khadka (28), Suhila Devi Bista (26), Khagendra Bahadur Shahi (24), and Kamal Ghari Magari (2) also lost their election deposits.
Eleven candidates were in the fray in the by-election in the constituency.
