Kathmandu, November 23: Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has been elected with a huge margin of votes from Dadeldhura constituency in far west Nepal for the seventh consecutive time.

Deuba, 77, secured 25,534 votes against his nearest rival Sagar Dhakal, 31, an independent candidate who received 1,302 votes. Deuba has never lost any parliamentary election in his five decades of political career. NC-led Coalition Inches Towards Majority in Nepal Polls.

Dhakal is a young engineer, who had a verbal squabble with Deuba during a public debate at a BBC's Sajha Sawal programme five years ago, after which he decided to challenge Deuba saying that now youths should get chance in politics and senior people like Deuba should get rest. Nepali Congress president Deuba is currently holding the post of Prime Minister for the fifth term.

The ruling Nepali Congress has so far bagged 10 seats in the House of Representatives (HoR) while it is leading in 46 other constituencies. The CPN-UML led by K P Oli has so far bagged three seats and is leading in 42 constituencies. Elections to the HoR and seven provincial assemblies were held on Sunday. The counting of votes started on Monday.

Out of 275 Members of Parliament, 165 will be elected through direct voting, while the remaining 110 will be elected through a proportional electoral system. Similarly, out of a total of 550 members of the provincial assemblies, 330 will be elected directly and 220 will be elected through the proportional method.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)