A Dalit candidate has won a provincial assembly seat from Mugu district.

Dansingh Pariyar of the CPN-UML was elected from Mugu (A) with 5,653 votes. His nearest rival Tilak Bahadur Malla of the Nepali Congress got 5,219 votes. Pariyar, 32, is a resident of Chhayanath Rara Municipality-1. He had entered politics as a student leader.

“It’s been easy to win the election as a candidate of the left alliance on the one hand and a representative of the Dalit community on the other,” Pariyar told the Post after his victory. He, however, remarked that the Karnali region would still have to wait before Dalit candidates reach higher positions. Caste-based discrimination and untouchability prevail in the remote region.

Pariyar vowed to fight against caste-based discrimination in order to secure rights of the Dalit community. Vocational training for Dalits and modernisation of their traditional occupation are among his main priorities.