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CPN (Maoist Center) candidate Aman Lal Modi has emerged victorious from Morang-4. He defeated his closest contender Binod Dhakal of CPN-UML by a huge margin of 6, 149 votes. Modi secured 30, 612 votes while Dhakal garnered 24, 463 votes. This is the third time that he was elected as a member of the House of Representatives.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party candidate Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan won the election to the House of Representatives from West Nawalparasi-2. Former Inspector General of Nepal Police (IGP) Pradhan defeated Nepali Congress candidate Devendra Raj Kandel by a huge margin of 15, 365 votes. Pradhan secured 34, 759 votes while former Home State Minister Kandel garnered 19, 594 votes. Similarly, CPN-UML’s Dipendra Kumar Adhikari got 14, 498 votes.

Nepali Congress' candidate Binod Kumar Chaudhary has been elected as a member of the House of Representatives (HoR), the lower house of the federal parliament, from Nawalparasi (Bardaghat Susta West)-1. He secured 29,495 votes, defeating his nearest competitor Hridayesh Tripathi, the candidate from Janata Pragatisheel Party, by a margin of 7,178 votes. Tripathi got 22,308 votes, informed Sujata Khatri, the District Election Officer. A noted industrialist and businessman, Chaudhary became a member of Parliament in the first Constituent Assembly Election in 2064 BS and the parliamentary election of 2074 BS from the proportional representation quota. He was picked as MP in 2064 BS by CPN-UML and by the Nepali Congress in 2074 BS elections. Mahendra Sen Thakuri of Rastriya Swatantra Party garnered 12,599 votes and Gulab Prasad Chaudhary of Janamat Party got 5,944.

Nepal has successfully conducted its parliamentary and provincial assembly elections. Except for some incidents of violence and one death in Bajura district, the November 20 polls were held in a free and fair manner. And as the election results are trickling in, there is some information that can be gleaned from there. Through their ballots, voters are trying to give a loud and clear message to the traditional political parties that their three-decade of dominance could be over. Surely, the old established parties have realized this. That there was just 61 percent turnout in this election—the lowest since 2008—itself suggests that the people are gradually losing their faith in the power of the ballot. Low voter participation does not bode well for democracy’s future, but one can still see hope in the fact that new parties and independent candidates are becoming increasingly popular. They have posed an immense challenge to the so-called heavyweights candidates of old political parties. At the time of writing, several independent and new party candidates are ahead of the old-timers in vote count. In some cases, they have already clinched victory. The takeaway here is that people, mostly urban youths, are frustrated with old faces. They want to see a new set of leaders at the helm of politics. True, the two oldest parties, Nepali Congress and CPN-UML, are unlikely to face a major loss in this election, but they can no longer remain complacent. They must either mend their ways or move aside. This is the message voters have conveyed to the big parties this election. A growing number of voters are unwilling to tolerate the non-performance of traditional parties. The election will most likely produce a hung parliament and a coalition government will be formed. So it is important for the incoming government, its partners and elected representatives to come to a consensus to form a stable government for the next five years. They should also commit to allow the parliament to complete its full five-year term. The new parties and independent candidates also have an important role to play. They have been placed in the position from where they can make a real change. They should honor the will of voters and not let them down.

A second-half brace by Richarlison, including a stunning overhead scissor kick, gave tournament favourites Brazil a 2-0 win over Serbia in their opening World Cup game at the Lusail Stadium on Thursday, Hindustan Times reported. The record five-time winners had toiled at times in the first half but they exploded into relentless attack in the second half and their effots were rewarded when Tottenham Hotspur striker Richarlison followed in to score the opener in the 62nd minute when a Vinicius Junior shot was saved. Vinicius then set up Richarlison to score again in the 73rd minute with a stunning acrobatic effort that is surely the goal of the World Cup so far.

Cristiano Ronaldo wrote his name in the record books as he became the first player to score in five World Cups after converting a penalty against Ghana in Portugal's opening Group H match at the Stadium 974 on Thursday, The Times of India reported.

Portugal survived a nervous nine minutes of stoppage time to edge past the African side 3-2 in a five-goal thriller.

Portugal dominated the first half completely but failed to break the deadlock and went into the halftime break at 0-0 against Ghana. Ronaldo broke the stalemate with a penalty conversion in the 65th minute, his 118th international goal for Portugal. Ghana skipper

Andre Ayew scored an equaliser in the 73rd minute, but two quick goals from Joao Felix (78th minute) and substitute Rafael Leao (80th minute) put Portugal back on the top.

Just when all looked in favour of Portugal, Osman Bukari scored a goal for Ghana a minute before the regulation time to put pressure on the European side. Portugal then survived a nervous nine minutes of stoppage time to open their campaign with a win.

Most of the action was condensed into a short period after the 60th minute with Portugal taking the lead when awarded a soft penalty after Ronaldo went down following minimal shoulder-to-shoulder contact with Mohammed Salisu.

Ronaldo closed his eyes as he waited to begin his run up, stuttered and smashed the ball into the net to the keeper's right, according to The Times of India.

Ghana fired back quickly though when Mohammed Kudus's cross found its way to Ayew who tapped home.

Portugal then revved into gear with Felix latching onto a Bruno Fernandes through ball and lifting his finish nonchalantly over the keeper.

Fernandes was the architect of their third goal too, playing another superb through ball for substitute Leao to slide his finish across the keeper and into the bottom corner.

There was tension at the end, however, as Ghana pulled another goal back with Osman Bukari heading a cross from the left in the 89th minute. Portugal, who now top the group with three points, next face Uruguay on Monday, when Ghana play South Korea.

 

Uruguay defender Diego Godin and midfielder Federico Valverde hit the woodwork as the South Americans were held to a 0-0 draw by South Korea in their opening World Cup Group H game, Aljazeera reported. Wearing a black mask to protect a facial fracture, Son Heung-min started for the South Koreans on Thursday, yet it was teammate Hwang Ui-jo who came closest to breaking the deadlock, but he scooped his shot over the bar with the goal at his mercy.

Valverde fired a stinging shot in the final minute of regulation time that hit the top of the post as the two sides battled to a stalemate in front of a crowd of 41,663, with group rivals Portugal set to meet Ghana later in the evening.  

A house is a lifetime investment. It’s a place where we spend most of our time. Most of us desire comfort as well as luxury in our homes. But in most cases, we fail to find housing companies that can cater to our needs. One exception to this could be Astra Developers. The company has so far built seven housing apartments, whose main purpose is to provide comfort and luxury to their occupants. Anushka Nepal from ApEx talks to Amit Adhikari, co-founder and CEO, of Astra Developers. What makes Astra Developers so different from other companies?  One thing we wanted to achieve from this company was giving chances to the younger generation and their ideas. Every employee, from architects to designers in our company, are in their 20s and 30s. What we want to give our customers is something different than what other housings have promised, and who else would be better to bring in fresh ideas than the younger generations? I will not deny that we have had a difficult time getting permits from governmental agencies, and a lot of skepticism from the people after seeing our young team. Our society is not quite well adjusted to seeing youngsters take up such heavy tasks. But even with all that, our team has persevered and prospered to make this company a success story. Is it easy to find a young team and work with them? It was not at all easy to find them. We actually had to do a headhunter to find employees for our company. But once we found them, it was worth all the time and effort. When it comes to work, that is where we face a lot of difficulty, not because of the team members but how the outsiders perceive our team. Even my partner and I are quite young for a businessperson. I personally have heard a lot of people from the older generation tell me how to do my own job. My team on the other hand had to go through a lot of tough times to get even a simple permit because people were not accepting of their age and the responsibility they carried. But I strongly believe that we need to give opportunity to the younger generation for a change. What makes Astra houses different from others?  One thing that makes us stand out is we do not take bookings before our project is completed. Most of the housings in Nepal start taking bookings just by showing their plans. But if you are interested in buying one of our housings, you can see the end work first, and then decide if you want it or not. Secondly, our main focus is luxury. We want our customers to feel at home and at peace after a long stressful day of work. That is where our location also fits. We are located in Budhanilkantha, 15 minutes drive from the core city area. It has a natural water source inside the compound, and a lot of greenery. It is a perfect way to escape the city and yet close enough to reach within a 15 minutes’ drive. Could you describe the houses you have built so far?  We have seven houses in tota, and all of them are fully furnished. We also provide people with rooftop swimming pools. Its main purpose is to put luxury in one’s home. And luxury does not always have to be extravagant. It needs to be efficient, comfortable, and should cater to the buyer’s needs. The reason it is fully furnished is because sometimes we feel that when individuals design their interiors, there is always one thing or the other missing. But when we built our apartments, we addressed each and every aspect of the housing to create a perfect luxurious setting to fulfill each and every need of a person. And one thing we introduced in our housing is multiple master bedrooms. No matter which bedroom you take, all of them are the same, so no one feels the need to decide on who gets the main bedroom in the house. What kind of customers does your company cater to?  Our housing is meant for people who are looking for luxury as well as comfort. We have not compromised on the quality of the products we have used on buildings. Yes, it does seem a little expensive for some people, but we feel that it is worth the investment. This housing is for people who want to leave their city life behind and come home to a secluded, peaceful environment. For many, a new home means they want to refurnish everything. This is why we provide fully furnished housings. We want our buyers to leave everything behind and come in only with a suitcase so that they can enjoy everything new and fresh. And we believe that Rs 50m to 70m investment for a strong and luxurious home is worth it. We are also planning to build an apartment in the city. We have moved forward with the process and this apartment will be located in Maharajgunj. It will only be six-storey high with similar features to what you see in our houses in Budhanilkantha.