RSP party leader thanked PM Modi for congratulating him on victory, said- hope to strengthen India-Nepal relations

Kathmandu. Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) President Ravi Lamichhane thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for congratulating him on his party’s election success and said he looked forward to strengthening India-Nepal relations through “development-centric diplomacy”. According to trends till Monday evening, RSP is heading towards a two-third majority in Nepal’s parliamentary elections by winning 125 seats under direct voting and securing 48,29,910 votes through the proportional voting system.

In a post on social media on Monday, Lamichhane thanked Prime Minister Modi for his good wishes and “recognizing the democratic mandate of the people of Nepal”. He said, “The RSP and our Government remain committed to pursuing a relationship based on mutual respect and shared prosperity, with the RSP prioritizing ‘development-centric diplomacy’।”

The RSP leader said,We look forward to a partnership with India that reaches new heights through cooperation in the areas of connectivity, cultural tourism, energy and trade and ensures a prosperous future for the people of both our countries.।”

Prime Minister Modi on Monday congratulated Lamichhane and Balendra Shah on their election victory and expressed India’s commitment to work with them for mutual prosperity, progress and welfare of both the countries. Shah is going to become the first Madhesi Prime Minister of Nepal and will also be the youngest Prime Minister.

“I am confident that with our joint efforts, relations between India and Nepal will touch new dimensions in the years to come,” Modi said in a social media post. There are a total of 275 seats in the House of Representatives of Nepal. Of these, 165 members are elected through the ‘First Past the Post’ (FPTP) or direct voting system, while 110 members are elected under the proportional representation system.

So far, results of 161 out of 165 seats have been declared under direct voting in the general elections, while the results of the remaining four seats are expected to be declared soon. RSP got 48,29,910 votes under proportional voting. After this, Nepali Congress (NC) got 16,28,704 votes, Nepal Communist Party (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML) got 1,35,939 votes, NCP got 7,38,067 votes, Shram Sanskriti Party got 3,41,518 votes, Janata Samajwadi Party got 1,16,463 votes and Rashtriya Parivartan Party got 31,746 votes. Political analysts say that RSP is expected to get at least 48 additional seats after getting more than 40 lakh votes in the proportional voting system. This could take its total seats in the 275-member House of Representatives to around 164, which is much more than the 138 seats required for a simple majority.