A total of 16 candidates—eight from the CPN (UML), five from the CPN (Maoist Centre) and three from the Nepali Congress—were elected to the National Assembly from provinces 1, 4, 5 and 7 in the elections held on Wednesday.

The elections were held for 32 Upper House seats in six provinces, except for Province 2 where all members were already elected unopposed.

Out of the 56 seats to be elected by an electoral college consisting of Provincial Assembly members and chiefs and deputy chiefs of local governments, 24 were elected unopposed. In the 59-member Upper House, three members are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the government.

“The elections were held peacefully in all six provinces,” said EC Spokesperson Navaraj Dhakal.

With eight voters remaining absent during the voting process, the turnout stood at 99.52 percent, the EC said. Wednesday’s elections saw 1,669 voters of the total 1,677 voters—443 Provincial Assembly members and 1,234 local government representatives-cast their ballots.

UML candidates Khem Raj Nepali and Agam Prasad Bantawa Rai booked their Upper House seats in Province 1 under the Dalit and Disabled/Minority categories, getting the better of NC candidates Bin Kumar Bishwokarma and Mahesh Kumar Jaju.

In Province 4 where the elections were held for seven seats, the UML won three seats while the NC and the Maoist Centre secured two seats each. NC’s Prakash Panth had already been elected unopposed from the Disabled/Minority category following the disqualification of UML candidate Ram Bahadur Thapa.

UML’s Ganesh Prasad Timilsina was elected from the open category, with Deepa Gurung and Shanti Kumari Adhikari securing their seats under the women category. Likewise, NC’s Surendra Raj Pandey won the election under the open category and Binda Devi Ale from the women category. Maoist Centre’s Dinanath Sharma was elected from the open category and Khim Bahadur BK won under the Dalit category.

In Province 5, with three female candidates already being elected unopposed, the elections were held for five seats. The UML and Maoist Centre won two seats each, with the one going to the NC.

UML’s Khim Lal Bhattarai, Maoist Centre’s Chandra Bahadur Khadka and NC’s Durga Prasad Upadhyay booked their seats in the Upper House from the open category. They were declared winners as per the single transferable voting (STV) system. The election in Province 7 saw UML’s Chakra Prasad Snehi win under the Dalit category and the Maoist Centre’s Mahesh Kumar Mahara secured a seat under the Disabled/Minority category, defeating NC’s Shri Ram Parki and Chhatra Raj Joshi respectively.

With six candidates—three women and three from the open category—already elected unopposed in provinces 1 and 7, the elections were held for just two seats under the Dalit and Disabled/Minority categories there.

As per the constitution, each province should elect eight members to the Upper House—three representing women, three from the open category, one each from Dalit and Disabled/Minority categories.