KATHMANDU: Chairman of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Rabi Lamichhane’s victory from Chitwan Constituency-2 is almost certain as he expands his lead over Nepali Congress (NC) candidate Jitnarayan Shrestha as officials continue to count votes.

As of now, Lamichhane has garnered over 45,842 votes while Shrestha, who is also the common candidate of the ruling alliance, got 8,425 votes.

A total of 78,277 votes were cast in the by-election held on Sunday in Chitwan-2.

Similarly, another contender — CPN-UML’s Ram Prasad Neupane — has secured 8,330 votes.

Assistant Election Officer of Bharatpur Ishwar Acharya said that the counting of votes is underway.

So far 870 votes have been invalidated.