Nepali Communist Party (NCP) coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal is close to securing a win in Rukum East-1 as vote counting continues following Thursday’s parliamentary elections.

Dahal has so far received 8,747 votes, leading CPN-UML candidate Lilamani Gautam by 5,730 votes, who has secured 3,017 votes. Nepali Congress candidate Kusum Devi Thapa is in third place with 2,477 votes.

Vote counting is ongoing.