Bidya Devi Bhandari, first women elected as Nepal President twice

NewsBharati    14-Mar-2018
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Kathmandu, March 14: Nepal’s first woman president Bidya Devi Bhandari was re-elected for a second term in office for another 5 years. President Bhandari is expected to take the oath of office on Wednesday.

56-year old Bhandari, the Left alliance's candidate, was elected with more than two-third majority as she defeated her Nepali Congress rival Kumari Laxmi Rai in the election.

According to Nepal Election Commission, the President of the Left Alliance has received 39,275 votes and her competitor Laxmi Rai of the opposition has secured around 11,730 votes. She is the first Nepali woman to be elected as the country's president twice.

The Electoral College comprising the members of Federal Parliament and provincial assemblies voted in the presidential election.

Nabaraj Dhakal, spokesperson at the Election Commission, said out of 884 members of the Electoral College 879 were eligible voters. But only 862 participated in the election.

The vote weightage of a member of federal parliament comprising House of Representatives and National Assembly is 79 while it is 48 for the provincial assembly members.

Besides the electors from the UML and the Maoist Centre, those from Sanghiya Samajbadi Forum-Nepal, Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal, Rastriya Janamorcha and Rastriya Prajatantra Party also voted for President Bhandari to re-elect her for the second full term.

President Bhandari, who was involved in politics from her college days, rose to prominence following the death of her husband in a jeep accident in Dasdhunga, Chitwan, in 1993. She won the by-election from Kathmandu-1 defeating the former Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai of Nepali Congress. She also won two others elections from Kathmandu-2 in 1994 and 1999.