The Hindu : Front Page : Maoists win 110 seats

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Tuesday, Apr 15, 2008
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Maoists win 110 seats

Ameet Dhakal

KATHMANDU: The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) is closing in a majority in the first-past-the-post system.

Of the 200 seats for which results have been declared, the Maoists won 110, the Nepali Congress bagged 32, the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) 27, the Madheis People’s Rights Forum (MPRF) 18, and the Terai Madhes Democratic Party (TMDP) 5. The fringe parties won the rest. Counting of votes is going on in 19 constituencies and re-polling will be held in 21 constituencies.

The counting of votes under the PR system has also begun. According to preliminary results in various districts, the Maoists received over 32 per cent of the vote, the NC 22 per cent, and the UML 21 per cent.

Since the Maoists are unlikely to get over 50 per cent votes in the PR system, they will not have a majority in the Constituent Assembly.

Among the winners was Baban Singh, who is in the police’s “most wanted criminals” list. Rautahat-1. Singh, 31, a resident of Bramhapuri VDC-1, defeated his rival Ajay Gupta of Sadbhawana Party (Mahato) won by 2,000 votes in the Rautahat-1 constituency. Singh secured 9,201 votes while Gupta got 6,588 votes. Singh has been living underground after police began hunting for him for his alleged role in the Kathmandu bomb blast of September 2, 2007. Three persons died in the explosion.

Singh is still underground and had filed his candidacy through his representative.

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