Two Dozens of Under-35 Candidates Defeat Old Guards in HoR Election

The vote count under the March 5 House of Representatives election is in a final stage now. The election held in the background of Gen Z movement has witnessed overwhelming votes for the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP).

Reflecting the spirit of Gen Z against the traditional parties, many youths under 35-year were able to hold sway and defeat the old guards. It has led to a vital entry of youths to parliament, a supreme forum of law making.

Total 20 RSP candidates under 35-year got victory in the HoR election held on March 5.
Similarly, Nepali Congress, Shram Sanskriti Party and Rastriya Prajatantra Party each had one such candidate winning the election.

Sobita Gautam, 30, was elected from Chitwan-3, collecting 59,277 votes. She defeated Nepali Communist Party’s Renu Dahal with the margin of over 20,000 votes. It is second time Sobita Gautam got elected to HoR member. She had earlier got victory from constituency-2 of Kathmandu. She is a law graduate.

Sulav Kharel is another prominent under-35 candidate defeating veteran UML leader Bishnu Paudel from Rupandehi-2. Kharel routed Paudel by collecting 56,550 votes. Kharel is also a law graduate from Nepal Law Campus. He is 26-year-old.

Rubina Acharya comes in line to defeat the old guard, Dr Shekhar Koirala of the Nepali Congress, in Morang-6. The under-35 candidate of RSP got 55,513 votes limiting her rival at 12,850 votes.

RSP’s Badan Kumar Bhandari from Kavrepalanchowk-2 was elected with 53,344 votes while his nearest contender Madhu Prasad Acharya of NC secured 17,868. The 33-year-old Bhandari, an e-commerce entrepreneur and a media worker, holds a Bachelor degree.

Nisha Dangi won the election from Jhapa-1, representing RSP. The 29-year-old was the RSP lawmakers from the party in the previous HoR. She secured 45,680 votes against NC candidate Keshab Raj Pandey. Pandey had 10,550. Dangi who was born in Bhadrapur municipality of Jhapa holds a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the Tribhuvan University.

Another RSP candidate Manish Khanal, 26, was elected from Nawalpur-2 with 41,347 votes against CPN (UML) candidate Til Bahadur Mahat Chhetri. The UML candidate obtained 15,755 votes. He is a law graduate from Nepal Law Campus.

Bablu Gupta is another youth candidate winning the election from RSP. The 28-year-old emerged victorious from Siraha-1 by defeating his nearest competitor Ram Sundhar Chaudhary of NC. Gupta is engaged in social service. He secured 41,322 votes against Chaudhary’s 9,774.

Santosh Rajbanshi, 34, won the election from Morang-4. Shiba Shankar Yadav, 30, from Siraha-2 won the election, representing the RSP while Tapeshwor Yadav from the same party emerged victorious from Siraha-4.

Another candidate under 35 winning HoR election is Deepak Kumar Shah, 34, from Mahottari-2. He represents the RSP. Ujjawal Kumar Jha, 33, from Mahottari -3 is another youth candidate winning the elections. He is from the RSP.

Sasmit Pokharel, 29, of the RSP elected from Kathmandu-5 holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Law. He is the RSP central member and the assistant spokesperson. Pokharel has already worked as Chief Assistant at the Parliament Office. He gave leadership to ‘get the job done’ through policy-research, team mobilization and coordination.

RSP’s Prashant Upreti has been elected to HoR member from Makawanpur-2. Born in 2057 BS in Makawanpur, Upreti is a tourism entrepreneur and has done Bachelor’s Degree in Tourism Management.

Similarly, another elected RSP candidate is Sagar Dhakal. The 34-year-old engineer Dhakal of Satyabati rural municipality-6 in Gulmi, won the election from Gulmi-1.

Elected from Pyuthan-1, Sushant Baidik, is under 35 year.

Likewise, emerged as an alternative politician, Ranju Neupane (Darshana), 30, has been elected from Kathmandu-1. She has studied up to Bachelor’s Level.

Another elected lawmaker below 35 years is Som Sharma of RSP. Sharma, 34, won the election from Baglung-2 while RSP’s candidate Jhabi Lal Dumre, 30, has been elected from Syangja -2, and RSP’s Ramji Yadav, 30, won the election from Saptari-2.

Dumre won the election securing 25,354 votes while Yadav was elected HoR member with 28,4040 votes.

The 26-year-old KP Khanal of the RSP won the election from Kailali-2, receiving 19,057 votes. Active in social campaign for 13 years, he has led the nation-wide clean-up campaigns like ‘Clean Kasthamandap’ and ‘Kathmandu Trash Collection’.

Tapeshwor Yadav, was elected from Siraha-4 and Ujjwal Kumar Jha from Mahottari-3. Both of them are RSP candidates under 33-year.

Similarly, the 32-year-old Yogesh Gauchan of Nepali Congress has made its journey to the HoR from Mustang-1 while Gyan Bahadur Shahi, 34, of Rastriya Prajatantra Party has been elected HoR member from Jumla-1.

Aren Rai, 29, of Shram Sanskriti Party won the election from Khotang-1. (RSS)