Sobita Gautam Secures Record Breaking Victory in Chitwan-3 as RSP Dominates Nepal Parliamentary Election Count

RSP candidate Sobita Gautam makes history in Chitwan-3, defeating Renu Dahal with 59,277 votes to claim the highest tally in Nepal’s 2026 election.

By: AXL Media

Published: Mar 7, 2026, 5:16 AM EST

Source: The information in this article was sourced from The Kathmandu Post

A Historic Mandate in the Chitwan Corridor

The election results concluded on Saturday, March 7, 2026, have established a new benchmark for electoral dominance in Nepal as Sobita Gautam of the Rastriya Swatantra Party secured 59,277 votes. According to official tallies, this represents the highest number of votes captured by any single candidate in the ongoing national election. By shifting her candidacy from her previous seat in Kathmandu to the competitive Chitwan-3 district, Gautam has successfully consolidated a massive popular mandate that signals a shifting tide in the country’s traditional political landscape.

Defeating Established Political Dynasties

The scale of Gautam’s victory is most visible in her performance against high profile rivals, specifically Nepali Communist Party candidate Renu Dahal. According to the final count, Dahal, who resigned from her prominent role as the Mayor of Bharatpur Metropolitan City to enter the parliamentary race, secured only 20,615 votes. As the daughter of former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, her loss by a margin of 38,662 votes suggests a significant rejection of established political lineage in favor of the younger, reformist platform represented by the RSP.

The Erosion of Traditional Party Influence

The performance of Nepal’s older, institutional parties in Chitwan-3 was notably subdued in the wake of the RSP surge. According to election data, the Nepali Congress candidate, Tek Prasad Gurung, managed to garner only 8,344 votes, while Shankar Thapaliya of the CPN-UML trailed further behind with 5,004 votes. These results indicate that the two largest traditional parties struggled to maintain their historical voter bases in the region, failing to present a competitive challenge to the narrative of change championed by Gautam.