Kathmandu, March 13 -- CPN (Maoist Centre) candidate Narayan Dahal on Tuesday registered a comfortable victory as the National Assembly chairperson, defeating his opponent with more than double votes.

Dahal, a common candidate from the ruling alliance, got 39 votes while Yuvaraj Sharma of the Nepali Congress was limited to 17 votes. As many as 56 lawmakers of the 59-strong upper house took part in the election process. The position had been vacant after Ganesh Prasad Timilsina retired on March 3 after completing his six-year tenure.

Dahal's candidacy was supported by the CPN-UML, the CPN (Unified Socialist) and Janata Samajbadi Party and Bamdev Gautam, who was nominated by the President. Sharma, on the other hand, was supported by the L...