Results of around 90 % local levels out

Kathmandu, May 21: After eight days since the May 13’s local level elections, around 90 per cent results of local bodies have been made public as of Friday. 

The Election Commission (EC), the body responsible for conducting the election, has aimed to conclude the vote counting by May 24. 

Talking to The Rising Nepal, the EC’s Assistant Spokesperson Surya Prasad Aryal said the EC has instructed the concerned election offices to conclude the vote counting and publish the final results by May 24. 

The vote counting should be concluded at the earliest, as the five-year tenure of the local representatives elected in the last local poll has already expired Thursday and this will create a vacuum in the local levels.

As of 7:37 pm on Friday, results of 667 of 753 local units have been made public while re-elections in some local bodies were held on Friday. 

According the EC, election results of 226 municipalities, 441 rural municipalities and 6,194 wards have been made public. 

Altogether 226 mayor/deputy mayors, 441 rural municipalities chairpersons/vice-chairpersons, 6,194 ward chairpersons, 6,192 women ward members, 6,085 Dalit women ward members and 12,383 ward members have been announced elected. 

Likewise, the ruling NC has been leading the vote counting by securing victory at 114 posts of mayor and deputy-mayor in 86 municipalities. The main opposition CPN-UML is trailing behind the NC by winning 63 posts of mayor and deputy mayor in 85 municipalities. 

Likewise, the ruling coalition partner CPN (Maoist Centre) has won the mayoral posts in 20 municipalities and deputy mayors in 28. It has won chairs and deputy chairs in 94 and 93 rural municipalities respectively.

The CPN (Unified Socialist) has won mayors in seven municipalities and deputy mayors in eight municipalities.

Candidates of another ruling coalition partner Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal (JSP-N) have been elected as chairs in 17 and deputy chairs in 15 rural municipalities.

Newly elected chiefs of all local bodies across the country have taken the oath of office and secrecy. 

Chief Election Officer and district judge administered the oath of office to the heads of a municipality and rural municipalities throughout the Kathmandu Valley and across the country. 

As of Friday, mayoral candidates of the ruling alliance have maintained their lead in five of the six metropolitan cities, while 32-year-old independent candidate Balendra Shah has been leading in vote counting in Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC). 

As of 7:30 pm, a total of 74,751 votes have been counted, of which Shah received 28,112 votes. He is leading with the margin of 13,129 votes to his nearest competitor UML’s candidate Keshav Sthapit. 

Sthapit has garnered 14,983 votes while the NC’s Shrijana Singh has received 14,669 votes. 

Similarly, the UML candidate for deputy mayor has been leading the vote counting. According to the Election Office, Kathmandu, UML’s candidate Sunita Dangol has garnered 27,702 votes while the candidate of the CPN (Unified Socialist) Rameshwor Shrestha has got 9,617 votes. 

According to the Office of Chief Returning Officer, Kathmandu, the vote counting of wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 28, 29, 30 and 35 have already concluded, while the vote counting is progressing in the wards 6,7,8,9,10,25,26 and 31. 

The EC’s Assistant Spokesperson Aryal said though the EC has instructed the concerned election office to conclude vote count before May 24, the vote counting of KMC might take some more time. 

Likewise, in Lalitpur Metropolitan City, Nepali Congress’ candidate Chiribabu Maharjan is leading the vote count with 22,820 votes, while his nearest competitor Kari Krishna Byanjankar of CPN-UML has garnered 12,489 votes. 

In Bharatpur Metropolitan City, CPN (MC) candidate Renu Dahal is leading vote counting with 23,154 votes, while Vijay Subedi of CPN-UML has got 19,722 votes. 

Similarly, in Biratnagar Metropolitan City, NC candidate Nagesh Koirala is leading with the margin of 7,185 votes. Koirala has garnered 27,246 votes, while his nearest competitor Sagar Kumar Thapa of UML has got 2,0079 votes. 

In Birgunj Metropolitan City, Rajesh Man Singh of Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal is ahead of other candidates. He has received 24,316 votes, while his nearest candidate Bijay Sarawagi of the UML has got 12,489 votes. 

Similarly, the ruling alliance candidate Dhanraj Acharya is leading the mayoral post in Pokhara Metropolitan City with 29,807 votes, while his nearest competitor of CPN-UML has got 26,375 votes.