Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Gagan Kumar Thapa, president of the Nepali Congress and the party’s prime ministerial candidate, has been defeated in the House of Representatives election from Sarlahi-4.
According to the final results announced on Sunday morning, Amaresh Kumar Singh of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) defeated Thapa by 12,857 votes. Singh secured 35,688 votes, while Thapa received 22,831 votes.
Thapa, who had been in parliamentary politics since 2008, was first elected to Parliament through the proportional representation system in 2008. He later won three consecutive elections from Kathmandu-4 constituency, in 2013, 2017, and 2022. However, he switched to Sarlahi-4 for the 2026 elections.
Interestingly, his contestant, Singh, also began his political career from the NC and has been winning from the constituency since 2013. After he was denied a ticket in the 2022 parliamentary elections, he contested as an independent candidate and won the election.
Just months before the election, Thapa was elected president of the NC through a special general convention held in December. The party had projected him as its future prime ministerial candidate.
Thapa had also launched the “Congress 2.0” campaign, promising to reform and modernize the party while reconnecting it with young voters. However, his reform agenda was overshadowed by the sweeping electoral surge of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which is headed toward a two-thirds majority in the lower house.
