Lumbini NA by-election:  276 voters cast votes as of 12 noon

KATHMANDU: As many as 276 representatives have cast their votes in the National Assembly (NA) by-lections as of 12 noon today.

There are 300 voters for the by-elections including 83 provincial assembly lawmakers and 217 chiefs and deputy chiefs of the local units.

The election began at Karmachari Milank Kendra in Ghorahi Sub Metropolitan City of Dang district at 9 am and will be  over at 3 pm.

Chandra Bahadur Khadka from ruling CPN-UML and Drig Narayan Pandey from the opposition parties are contesting the elections.

The Election Commission is making preparations to unveil the election results today itself, said Chief Returning Officer Ritendra Thapa.

The NA by-election is being held in the quota that remained vacant after CPN (Maoist Center) took action against NA member Chandra Bahadur Khadka for defecting to CPN-UML.

Three polling booths ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’ have been arranged for the elections.  The booth ‘A’ has been allocated for provincial assembly members, ‘B’ for chiefs and deputy chiefs of the local units while ‘C’ has designated for COVID-19 infected local representatives, said the Election Commission (EC).