KATHMANDU, May 14: The vote counting of local level level elections is currently underway in most local levels across the country. While the vote counting began last night in a number of local levels in different parts of the country, the process began in most other  local levels this morning.

The vote counting of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) began earlier today. Although an all-party meeting held on Friday night decided to begin counting of the votes from 8AM today, the actual counting of votes started at 10AM at National Assembly Hall, Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu. 

The vote counting has started from Ward Number 1, which will be followed by ward number 32 and others. As per the preliminary results, Independent candidate for mayoral post of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Balendra Shah has taken the lead. Of the total 75 votes counted so far, Balendra got 22 votes, Nepali Congress (NC) candidate Sirjana Singh got 18 votes, CPN-UML candidate Keshav Sthapit got 13 votes and RPP candidate Madan Das Shrestha got 3 votes.

In Biratnagar metropolis of Morang district, vote counting has started in ward 1, 2, 16, 17, 18 and 19 in the first phase. Although the vote counting was decided to start at 8AM today, rainfall in the region has delayed the vote count. A total of 89,678 votes were casted out of the total 133,142 registered voters in the metropolis. 

Meanwhile in Butwal Sub-metropolis of Rupandehi district, NC candidate Khel Raj Pandey is leading with 422 votes out of 900 votes counted so far. Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) Mirgendra Sherchan is in second place with 295 votes, while the CPN-UML’s Baburam Bhattarai is trailing behind Sherchan with 160 votes. 

Similarly, NC is in the lead at Siddarthanagar Metropolis, RPP is in second place while UML is in third. Of the 792 votes counted so far, NC’s Istiyak Ahmed Khan has received 391 votes, RSS’s Sagar Pratap Rana has received 165 votes while UML has received 62 votes so far. 

In two municipalities of Taplegunj district, NC and UML are leading in each of them. Of the 8,33 votes casted in Meringden Rural Municipality-6, UML’s candidate Kedar Jung Limbu is leading with 354 votes and NC’s Dambar Jangma in second with 311 votes. There are still 100 votes left to be counted. 

Similarly, vote counting is underway in four out of three municipalities in Rukum-West.

Vote counting is underway in Musikot Municipality, Sonabhari Rural Municipality, Triveni Rural Municipality, and Chaurjahari Municipality. As per the preliminary results, the NC has the lead in Musikot municipality while the CPN (Maoist Center) have the lead in other municipalities. The counting of votes had started here only in the morning.

In the ongoing vote counting in three municipalities of Kapilvastu, Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP), RPP and the UML are in the lead. In Kapilvastu Municipality, JSP’s Sudi Poudel is in the lead with 617 votes, followed by UML’s Rajesh Gupta with 131 and NC’s Kiran Singh with 80 votes. 

In the contest for deputy mayor of the municipality, JSP’s Sunita Gupta is in the lead with 192 votes, followed by UML’s Tulsa Gaire Pandey with 148 votes and NC’s Nasarin Khatun with 134 votes. 

In Shivaraj Municipality, of the 1,101 votes counted so far, RPP’s Ajay Thapa is in lead with 440 votes, followed by UML’s Mahadev Pokhrel with 372 votes, and NC’s Humkanta Khanal with 52 votes. In Kapilvastu Bijay Nagar Rural Municipality, UML is leading with 352 votes, NC with 106, JSP with 218. Voting counts in other municipalities are also underway. 

In Rapti Sonari Rural Municipality of Banke, NC’s candidate for ward chairperson Tapta Poudel is in the lead with 113 votes as counts are still underway. Similarly, UML’s Ramdas Tharu has received 104 votes while CPN (Maoist Center)’s Pattu Tharu has 49 votes. In the post of deputy mayor, UML;s Chameli Bagwal has received 107 votes, NC’s Manisha Singh Tharu has 105 votes, CPN (Maoist Center) Manju Rokaya has received 47 votes. The vote counting is still underway in ward 1,2, and 3 of the rural municipality. 

In Baitadi, NC is leading in five local levels while the UML is leading in one as per the preliminary results. Counting is underway in six out of 10 local levels of the district. 

In Dashrath Chand Municipality, NC’s Gajendra Singh Rawal is leading with 458 votes while UML’s Pushkar Raj Joshi has 454 votes. In the contest for the post of deputy mayor, NC’s Kaushali Chand is in lead  with 466 votes while UML’s Saraswati Nepali has received 440 votes. 

In Patan Municipality, NC’s Gauri Singh Rawal has received 225 votes while UML’s Narayan Singh Bhandari received 220 votes. In the contest for the post of deputy mayor, CPN (Maoist Center)’s Kamal Singh Bohara has received 208 votes while UML’s Haru Bhatta has received 116 votes. 

In Purchoudi Municipality, NC’s Deepak Bahadur Bam has received 4405 votes in the contest for mayoral post. Similarly, UML’s Karna Bahadur Kunwar has received 277 votes while CPN (Maoist Center)’s Bikram Bahadur Kunwar has 233 votes.  In the contest for the post of deputy mayor, NC’s Mina Dhanuk is leading with 407 votes, UML’s Janaki Saud with 293 votes and CPN (Maoist Center)’s Nanda Saud with 251 votes. 

In  Melalui Municipality, UML’s Jagadish Singh Nayak is leading with 96 votes, NC’s Prem Bahadur Chand with 96 votes and CPN (Maoist Center)’s Bhim Bahadur Chand with 78 votes. In Shivanath Rural Municipality, NC’s Karna Singh Saud is leading with 641 votes followed by UML’s Hajari Singh Saud with 506 votes. Similarly, NC’s Gajendra Bahadur Chand is leading with 198 votes against UML’s Ammar Bahadur Kunwar, who has received 32 votes in Sunarya Rural Municipality.  

 
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