Nepali Congress emerges largest party, wins 105 seats

Kathmandu: As the counting of votes under the proportionate voting system concluded, Nepali Congress headed by Sushil Koirala has secured has secured 24,21,252 votes out of a total of 93,77,519 valid votes. CPN-UML headed by Jhalanath Khanal is in second place with 22,43,447 votes. Prachanda-led UCPN-Maoist, the largest party in 2008 polls, was routed and was in third place with 14,38,666 votes. [caption id=“attachment_1256237” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Prachanda has suffered a humiliating defeat. AFP[/caption] Out of the 240 seats under the direct voting system already announced, the Nepali Congress has bagged 105 seats followed by CPN-UML, which grabbed 91 seats. UCPN-Maoist got third position with 26 seats and the remaining 18 seats went to Madhesi and fringe parties. The counting of votes will lead to the formation of a 601-member Constituent Assembly, including 240 elected through direct voting. Proportionate voting will elect 335 members and the remaining 26 will be nominated by the government. Under proportionate representation (PR) system, the entire country is considered as one election constituency and seats are allocated in proportion to the vote secured by respective political party. Altogether 10,709 candidates from 122 political parties are contesting under the PR system. A party needs a total of 301 seats to get an absolute majority. The Rastriya Prajatantrra Party, a pro-monarchist group, got 6,24,281 votes in the proportionate system to emerge as the fourth largest party, though it could not win a single seat under the direct voting. Election Commission spokesperson Bir Bahadur Rai said the vote count for all the constituencies has concluded. PTI