Rukum East, March 6 -- Former Prime Minister and Nepali Communist Party (NCP) coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal has won the Rukum East seat in Thursday's parliamentary elections, marking his fifth consecutive term as a member of the House of Representatives.

Dahal secured 10,240 votes, while his closest rival, CPN-UML's Lilamani Gautam, received 3,462 votes. Nepali Congress candidate Kusum Devi Thapa came third with 3,081 votes, followed by Rastriya Swatantra Party's Lakhan Kumar Thapa with 819 votes and Pragatisheel Loktantrik Party candidate Sandeep Pun with 203 votes.

Dahal has a long electoral history, first elected in the 2008 Constituent Assembly (CA) from Kathmandu-10 and Rolpa-2. He later won the 2013 second CA election from Siraha...