KATHMANDU, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Balendra Shah, Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) senior leader, defeated the chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) and former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli with a margin of around 50,000 votes in Nepal's parliamentary election, the Election Commission said on Saturday.
While Shah, former mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City, secured 68,348 votes, Oli managed to get only 18,734 votes.
Though born and brought up in Kathmandu, Shah chose Jhapa constituency 5, the home place of Oli, to challenge him. Shah is the prime ministerial face of the RSP.
The RSP is heading towards a landslide victory in the House of Representatives elections held on Thursday. The party has won 62 out of 78 declared seats under the first-past-the-post system as of 6:45 p.m. local time Saturday. ■