Rastriya Swatantra Party candidate Dr Swarnim Wagle has been elected as the member of the House of Representatives from Tanahun-1. According to the final voting results made public this morning, Wagle defeated his closest contender by a margin of 14, 797 votes. The Chief Election Officer’s office, however, is yet to formally announce the winner.

Out of 65, 316 votes cast in the election, Wagle secured 34, 919 votes.

His closest contender Govinda Bhattarai of the Nepali Congress garnered 20, 122 votes while Sarbendra Khanal of the CPN-UML obtained 8, 488 votes. Wagle won the election by around 10, 000 more votes than Nepali Congress candidate Ram Chandra Paudel in the November 20 elections. Paudel had won the election by receiving 25, 361 votes. His nearest rival Ek Bahadur Rana Magar of the CPN-UML had secured 19, 981 votes. The by-election was held in Tanahun-1 on April 23 as the HoR seat had fallen vacant after Ram Chandra Paudel of Tanahun-1 was elected as the President of the country.