The counting of votes of the by-elections held Friday in Rolpa has begun Saturday afternoon.

According to initial results, the Unified CPN (Maoist) candidate Santosh Budhamagar (Maoist) is leading with 1,913 votes. His nearest opponent Hari Prasad Gharti of the CPN (UML) has secured 1,513 votes and NC candidate Gangaram Dangi has got 689 votes.

Prime Minister and chairman of the Maoist Pushpa Kamal Dahal had won from this constituency in the CA elections last year.

Vote counting had been stalled throughout the day Saturday due to a feud between the contending parties. The counting started after they reached an agreement Saturday evening. nepalnews.com Apr 11 09