Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP)’s candidate Dr Swarnim Wagle has been elected as a member of the House of Representatives (HoR) from Tanahun-1.

In the by-election voting held on Sunday, Wagle received 34,919 votes out of a total of 63,757 votes cast in the constituency.

The margin was more than 14,000 votes against his nearest rival Govinda Bhattarai of the Nepali Congress who garnered 20,122 votes. CPN-UML Sarbendra Khanal stood third with 8,489 votes.

Wagle quit Nepali Congress on March 30 to join the Rastriya Swatantra Party stating that he was humiliated by the Congress party’s top leadership.

Economist Wagle was former Vice Chairman of the National Planning Commission and currently the Chairperson of the Institute for Integrated Development Studies (IIDS).