POKHARA, Dec. 1 -- Bidya Bhattarai of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) is maintaining the lead in Kaski constituency No.2 with a wide margin of votes as the vote-counting is underway.

As per the latest election results, Bhattarai has garnered 15508 votes while her nearest rival Khem Raj Poudel of the main opposition party Nepali Congress is trailing by 7807 votes. Of the total 11 wards in Kaski constituency No.2, the vote counting of the five wards has already been over.

Now, the vote counting of ward No. 15 is underway.

Bhattarai is the widow of Rabindra Adhikari, the then minister for culture, tourism and civil aviation who died in a chopper crash in Taplejung on February 27 this year.

The constituency has been vacant since Ad...