Kathmandu, March 13: Left Alliance candidate Bidhya Devi Bhandari has been elected as the President of Nepal for a second term. The voting for the election of the new President of Nepal began at the Nepal parliament on Tuesday. Bhandari- the incumbent President stood in the fray for her second term challenged by Laxmi Rai from the Nepali Congress.

A total of 549 lawmakers from the Provincial Council voted to elect new president today.  The voting which begun from 10 AM in the office of the Election Commission of Nepal (ECP) in Kathmandu ended at 3 PM.

With the recent voting, President Bhandari has become the first president of federal Nepal. She has thus also set the record as the first female president of Nepal. According to Election Commission's spokesperson Nawaraj Dhakal, the result will be out by the evening. Reports stated that the Rashtriya Janata Party- Nepal and the Federal Socialist Forum- Nepal were expected to vote in favour of Bhandari assuring Bhandari's continuation over the post.

Who is Bidhya Devi Bhandari:

  1. Bidhya Devi Bhandari is a communist politician, and the second and current President of Nepal and commander in chief of Nepalese army elected in 2015.

  2. Bhandari was elected twice in parliamentary elections in 1994 and 1999, defeating Prime Minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai and Damanath Dhungana, respectively. However, she lost during the 2008 Constituent Assembly poll.

  3. The newly elected President of Nepal held the post of Minister of Defense in the cabinet of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal. The party elected her under the proportional electoral system in the second Constituent Assembly elections in 2013.

  4. Bhandari is the first woman to hold the office. She was the vice-chairperson of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and chair of the All Nepal Women Association before winning the presidential election on 28 October 2015.

  5. She was elected as President in a parliamentary vote, receiving 327 votes out of 549 and defeating Kul Bahadur Gurung.

  6. In 2016, Forbes placed her 52 in their list of the world's 100 most powerful women. She previously served as the Minister of Defence of the government of Nepal and was the first woman in Nepal to hold that post.

  7. Bhandari was also the minister for Environment and population in 1990s.

In Tuesday's voting, a total of a total of 330 lawmakers from the Federal Parliament and 550 lawmakers from the Provincial Council were eligible to vote. At present, there are 275 lawmakers in House of Representatives and 59 in the National Assembly. Reports by ANI state that the calculation of the votes to be cast in favour of incumbent President Bhandari from left alliance is 33,575. The main opposition Nepali Congress had the vote weightage of 11,428 only.

The Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) has a total of 148 lawmakers in National Assembly and House of Representative or the Federal Assembly whereas a total of 243 are in Provincial Councils. They all have the vote weightage of 23,356 with 10,319 votes from the Maoist Center. The Nepali Congress is left behind with 11,428 vote weightage and the RJP-N and the FSF-N has vote weightage of 2,845 and 3,198 vote weightage.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 13, 2018 06:21 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).