Alongside its landslide victory in the House of Representatives elections held on Thursday, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has achieved a milestone in the success of women candidates, with 13 of its 16 female nominees emerging victorious.

Most winners secured their seats by overwhelming margins, reflecting a strong wave of support for the party’s women leaders.

However, the party faced three losses. Binita Kathayat lost to Gyanendra Shahi of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party in Jumla; Sarin Tamang was defeated by Harka Raj Rai of the Shram Sanskriti Party in Sunsari-1; and Tashi Lhanjom finished fourth in Humla.

Ranju Darshana opened the party’s account in Kathmandu-1, securing 15,455 votes to defeat Prabal Thapa Chhetri of the Nepali Congress by a wide margin.

In Lalitpur-3, Tosima Karki secured a second consecutive term. Having previously unseated political heavyweights in 2022, she defended her seat this time with 43,096 votes, comfortably defeating Jitendra Kumar Shrestha of the Nepali Congress and Raj Kaji Maharjan of the Nepali Communist Party.

Sobita Gautam, who represented Kathmandu-2 in the 2022 election, successfully shifted her constituency to Chitwan-3. She garnered 59,277 votes, handing a heavy defeat to Nepali Communist Party candidate Renu Dahal, the former mayor of Bharatpur Metropolitan City.

In Morang-6, Rubina Acharya, an MBA graduate from Kathmandu University, secured a landslide victory with 55,513 votes. Her closest rival, Congress leader Shekhar Koirala, managed only 12,850 votes, while Binod Dhakal of the CPN-UML received 8,317.

Further south in Morang-5, Asha Jha, a public health graduate and former health volunteer, won by a margin of over 20,000 votes, polling 30,434 against Congress candidate Phul Kumar Lalwani’s 9,415.

In Jhapa, the RSP recorded two victories. Nisha Dangi (Jhapa-1) secured 45,680 votes, defeating Congress candidate Keshav Raj Pandey. Dangi previously held the record as the youngest lawmaker in the 2022 Parliament.

Meanwhile, Indira Rana Magar (Jhapa-2), the former deputy speaker, secured a massive 60,110 votes, far ahead of former speaker and UML candidate Devraj Ghimire, who received 11,338 votes.

In Sarlahi-1, Nitima Bhandari Karki claimed victory with 44,181 votes, leaving Congress candidate Shambhu Lal Shrestha far behind with 7,871 votes.

Komal Gyawali, a successful agricultural entrepreneur, was elected from Kailali-1 with 17,862 votes. Her nearest rival, Janakraj Chaudhary from Congress, got 12,870 votes.

Social worker Bina Gurung scored 37,750 votes and defeated Congress candidate Manoj Gurung by a margin of 24,970 votes in Kaski-3.

Social media activist Ashika Tamang entered Parliament with 39,128 votes, defeating veteran leaders Bhumi Prasad Tripathi of the UML and Rajendra Prasad Pandey of the Nepali Communist Party in Dhading-1.

Thirty-six-year-old Pushpa Kumari Chaudhary won decisively with 38,195 votes from Saptari-1. Her nearest rival, Sumit Kumar of the Swabhiman Party, received 7,847 votes.

In Mahottari-4, Gauri Kumari secured 30,132 votes, comfortably defeating Surendra Kumar Yadav of the Janata Samajbadi Party, Nepal.

The RSP candidates’ success in the election is notable, particularly as political parties are often criticised for fielding women candidates in constituencies where their chances of victory are considered slim.