Bidya Devi Bhandari was re-elected as the President of Nepal on Tuesday. She will begin her second term as President with this victory. Bhandari is the first woman President of Nepal.

She defeated Nepali Congress leader Kumari Laxmi Rai by a huge margin. Her victory was expected as her nomination in the Presidential elections was backed by the ruling left alliance CPN-UML and CPN, Sanghiya Samajbadi forum, and other parties.

CPN’s 65 lawmakers in the parliament and 108 lawmakers in provincial assemblies, the CPN had 10,319 votes. Though the Nepali Congress led in the presidential elections with 11,428 votes from its 76 members in parliament 113 in provincial assemblies, the support of other smaller parties led to the victory of Bhandari.

Bidya Devi Bhandari first term as the president of Nepal was uncontroversial and she was likely to win the elections again.

She got involved in politics during her teens and joined the battle to dethrone the centuries-long monarchy rule in the country. She married a fellow communist Madan Bhandari whom she met during her initial years in politics. 

She has campaigned hard to increase women participation in the parliament, however, critics opine that she has not done enough to empower women in Nepal that primarily has patriarchal culture.