Voting concludes in prez election, 549 lawmakers cast votes

Kathmandu Oct 28, 2015- The voting process to elect the new president of the country has concluded at the Legislature Parliament. The vote counting will begin from 2:30 pm and House speaker will announce the result at 5 pm today evening.

 

Parliament secretariat informed that 549 of the total 597 lawmakers cast their votes. Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala, both the candidates and lawmakers cast their votes.

 

Forty-eight lawmakers, including those from the Madhes-based political parties, did not take part in the voting process.

 

CPN-UML Vice-chairperson Bidhya Devi Bhandari and Nepali Congress leader Kul Bahadur Gurung have filed their nomination for the presidential post.

 

With the support from the UML, UCPN (Maoist), Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik, Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal and other fringe parties, UML’s candidate Bhandari is likely to be elected the country’s next president.

 

Another candidate Gurung’s has the backing of his party Nepali Congress.

 

 Nepal Workers Peasants Party, which fielded Narayan Maharjan as its candidate for the post on Tuesday, withdrew its nomination and decided to support Bhandari instead. A candidate has to secure 299 votes to win the election.