Kathmandu, Dec 12 (AFP) A fugitive wanted over a deadlyattack on police won a seat in Nepal's national parliamenttoday, despite being in hiding and not once appearing inpublic during his campaign.
Resham Chaudhary won the seat from Kailali in westernNepal by a landslide, securing more than double the votes ofhis closest rival, according to results from the electioncommission.
Chaudhary has been in hiding since 2015 when he wasaccused of masterminding an attack in which eight policeofficers and a toddler were killed.
"He is in our wanted list and we can arrest him eventhough he has been elected as a member of parliament, if wefind him," said police spokesman Manoj Neupane.
Chaudhary was a key figure in violent protests thaterupted in 2015 over a contentious new constitution.
Ethnic minority groups from across Nepal's southernlowlands took to the streets demanding changes to the charter,which they say leaves them politically marginalised.
Around 50 people died in clashes between protesters andpolice that led to a blockade of the border with India and acrippling shortage of goods in landlocked Nepal.
Chaudhary has previously denied masterminding the attackon police, which he described as a "people's uprising".
But a parliamentary committee concluded the killings werepremeditated, and a Human Rights Watch investigation foundsome protesters appeared to have come prepared for violence.
The protest movements have lost momentum in recent yearsand many of their leaders have joined political parties.
During his campaign, Chaudhary never once emerged fromhiding. Instead he recorded a series of audio and videospeeches that his supporters played on laptops at crowdedrallies, according to local media.
This is not the first time a man on the police's wantedlist has ended up in Nepal's parliament.
Shortly after being elected to parliament in 2013, SanjaySah was arrested for his role in a deadly bombing the yearbefore. He is still in jail.
Votes are still being counted following landmark nationaland provincial elections, which mark the end of the country'stumultuous transition from monarchy to democracy 11 yearsafter the end of a brutal civil war.
Final results are expected by the end of the week, but analliance of the two main communist parties has already won astrong majority. (AFP)UZM.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.