Kathmandu, March 6 -- Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) senior leader Balendra Shah has increased his lead in Jhapa-5, extending the margin over CPN-UML chair KP Sharma Oli to 9,253 votes.

According to the latest update from the Chief Election Office, Shah has secured 11,945 votes, while Oli trails with 2,692 votes. Samir Tamang of the Shram Sanskriti Party is in third place with 1,477 votes.

Other contenders include Ranjit Tamang of the Nepali Communist Party with 355 votes and Mandhara Chimariya of the Nepali Congress with 335 votes.

Vote counting is ongoing.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from EKantipur.com....