As Balen set to become first PM from Madhes traditional stalwarts of Madhes lose election

Rastriya Swatantra Party, which projected Balen Shah, whose ancestral house is in Mahottari district of Madhes Province, as the Prime Ministerial candidate bagged almost all seats in the Madhes. RSP has won 30 out of a total of 32 seats in eight districts of Madhes, which consists of Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusha, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Rautahat, Bara and Parsa, bordering India. Almost a dozen, eleven, of those elected to the House from Madhes are youths below age of 40 this time.

However, Madhesi stalwarts belonging to traditional parties received humiliating defeat in the March 5 election, according to data shown by the Election Commission. The prominent Madhesi leaders, who lost the election were Rastriya Mukti Party Nepal’s president Rajendra Mahato and Mahindra Yadav leader of Nepali Communist Party, who contested from Sarlahi 2,Upendra Yadav, chair of Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal who contested from Saptari 3 and Janamat Party’s president C.K. Raut who contested from Saptari 2. While RSP’s Rabin Mahato wins the elecion from Sarlahi 2, Mahindra Yadav got second and Rajendra Yadav got fourth position in the election. Similarly, Upendra Mahato lost election to Amarkant Chaudhari of RSP in Saptari 3 while C.K. Raut got third position in Saptari 2, from where RSP’s Ramji Yadav got elected.

Among the remaining two seats in Madhes, Matrika Yadav of Nepali Communist Party wins from Dhanusha 1 by defeating Nepali Congress candidate Ram Paltan Sah and Mohmad Firdos Alam of Nepali Congress wins from Rautahat 2 by defeating Kiran Kumar Shah of Nepali Communist Party.

Balen while addressing his first election campaign in Dhanusha described himself as the son of Madhes. Balen’s RSP with 125 directly elected seats and securing more than 5 million votes under proportionate voting, has emerged as victorious in the recently concluded HoR election and is heading towards a two third majority.