Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: CPN-UML Vice President Bishnu Poudel has been reelected to the House of Representatives from Rupandehi-2 constituency.
According to the Election Commission, he defeated Ganesh Poudel of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) by 1,366 votes. While UML’s Poudel received 27,174 votes, the RSP candidate 25,781 votes.
This is the UML vice president’s fourth victory in Rupandehi. He had defeated Yubaraj Giri of the Nepali Congress by nearly 23,000 votes in the 2017 election.
The election was expected to be a cakewalk for Poudel after the Election Commission scrapped the candidacy of Raju Gurung of CPN (Unified Socialist) – the common candidate of the five-party ruling coalition. But RSP’s Poudel gave the UML veteran a tough fight, leading the count on the initial days.
The ruling coalition had thrown its weight behind Keshav Thapa of Rastriya Janamukti Party who polled 22,800 votes.
A total of 81,202 votes were cast in the constituency.
