December 8: Vote counting of the parliamentary and provincial elections held in two phases on November 26 and December 7 has started. The counting for the first phase of election held in 32 hill and mountain districts started from 5 pm Thursday while the second phase of election held in 45 districts began from Friday morning.

Preliminary results show that the left alliance is leading the poll race. So far, CPN-UML has secured two provincial seats while CPN (Maoist Center) has secured one. UML candidates secured victories in Manang and Mustang districts. In Manang, UML’s Prem Prasad Tulachan garnered 3,544 votes beating his nearest rival Romi Gauchan Thakali of Nepali Congress (NC), the 2013 Constituent Assembly election winner, by 263 votes.

Likewise, UML’s Palden Choppang Gurung has defeated former minister and NC candidate Tek Bahadur Gurung by 289 votes in Mustang. Palden Gurung had garnered 2,300 votes.

In Rukum (east), Maoist candidates have already won a seat in federal and provincial assembly. Maoist Center candidate Kamala Roka defeated Hari Shankar Gharti by a wide margin of 6,028 votes to secure a seat in the federal parliament. Roka received 10,434 votes.