Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Suhang Nembang of CPN-UML his saved his father’s legacy by winning the by-election in the Ilam-2 seat of the House of Representatives.
Suhang secured 27,772 out of 69, 374 votes cast in the constituency to defeat his closest rival, Dambar Bahadur Khadka of Nepali Congress, who got 21,942 votes.
Suhang’s father, late UML Vice Chairperson Subash Chandra Nembang, had defeated Khadka in the November 22 election by a slim margin of 114 votes. Nembang received 30,020 votes in the election, while Khadka got 29,906 votes. Khadka had the support of CPN (Maoist Center) and few other parties in the election.
Suhang defeated Khadka by a wide margin of over 5,000 votes. This time, UML had the support of the Maoist Center and a few other parties.
The constituency went into the by-polls with the demise of UML Vice Chairperson Nembang in September last year.
Subash Nembang won all elections held in Ilam-2 since 1999 – 1999 general elections, 2008 Constituent Assembly elections, 2013 Constituent Assembly elections, 2017 general elections and 2022 general elections.
Independent candidate Dakendra Thegim, backed by pro-identity groups, secured the third position with 11,457 votes. Meanwhile, Milan Limbu of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), who had defected from CPN (Maoist Center) to contest in Ilam-2, garnered 5,050 votes.
Limbu and 15 other candidates lost their election deposits as they failed to get at least 10% of the valid counted votes. Out of 69,374 votes cast in Ilam-2, 68,472 were deemed valid. Candidates needed to get at least 6,847 votes to safeguard their election deposits.
UML sweeps both seats in the by-polls
UML also emerged victorious in the by-polls for the Bajhang-1 (A) seat of Sudurpashchim Province Assembly.
The seat was left vacant following the tragic demise of Prithvi Bahadur Singh of Nepali Congress, who had won the constituency in the November 2022 election, in a road accident last year.
Damodar Bhandari of UML defeated Abhishek Bahadur Singh of Nepali Congress in the by-polls. Bhandari secured 11,612 votes, while Singh received 11,346 votes.
Abhishek is the son of the late Pritvhi Bahadur Singh.
