By-elections in Ilam and Bajhang on April 27

By-elections have been scheduled for Ilam-2 and Bajhang-1 (1) on April 27. The Election Commission has fixed the date for holding by-elections in both the seats on Sunday. The seat is vacant after CPN-UML Vice President Subash Chandra Nembang, elected from Ilam 2, passed away on 12 September due to a heart attack. Similarly, Prithvi Bahadur Singh, who was elected from Bajhang Pradesh Assembly ‘1’ as the Minister of Internal Affairs and Law of the Far West Government, died in a car accident on June 20 while returning to his home district. There is a constitutional provision to hold a by-election if the seat of a MP is vacant and there is more than 6 months remaining.

UML leader Nembang, also the former Speaker of Parliament, was elected with 30 thousand 20 votes from Ilam 2 in the election held on November 20, 2022. Prithvi Bahadur Singh of Nepali Congress was elected from Bajhang Province ‘1’ with 17 thousand 112 votes. According to the data of the commission, during the Nov. 20 election, 68 thousand 951 votes were cast in Ilam 2 out of 1 lakh 15 thousand 342 voters. In Bajhang, there were 1 lakhs 22 thousand 376 voters and 62 thousand 176 votes were cast. After fixing the date of the election, the commission has postponed the voter list registration work. There is a provision in the Electoral Roll Act that no name will be registered in the electoral roll for election purposes after announcing the date.