Kathmandu, May 18 (PTI) The Nepali Congress is set to sweep the local level elections in the country with the ruling party bagging over 400 posts of mayors/chiefs and deputy mayors/deputy chiefs out of the 753 units which went to polls, as counting of votes entered its last phase on Wednesday evening.
According to Election Commission, the Nepali Congress, led by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, has either won or taken a sizeable lead in 213 positions for chiefs and 204 deputy chiefs.
The local level polls were held on May 13. In majority seats, the contest was between candidates of the ruling-five-party alliance – Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist Centre, CPN-Unified Socialist and two smaller parties – and the Main Opposition Communist Party of Nepal-UML, led by former prime minister KP Sharma Oli.
The CPN-UML has won 137 chairs and 143 vice-chairs, whereas the CPN-Maoist Centre has won 94 chairs and 101 vice chairs, officials said.
The CPN-Unified Socialist has won nine chairs and 14 vice-chairs.
Janata Samajwadi, a key Madhesi Party part of the ruling alliance, has secured nine chair and nine vice-chair posts.
The Nepali Congress has won small municipalities around Kathmandu Valley, including Madhyapur, Thimi, Dakshinkali, Gokarneshwor, Chandragiri and is leading in Lalitpur Metropolis and Nagarjun Municipality.
Meanwhile, prominent Nepalese rap singer Balen Shah, who is contesting the Kathmandu mayoral election as an independent candidate, continued to lead the race for the key position on Wednesday.
Shah has so far secured 17,643 votes against his nearest rival Keshav Sthapit of the CPN-UML. The contest is far from over as 140,000 votes are yet to be counted.
This is the second local-level polls being held in the country after the country switched to a federal set-up. Voters are electing a total of 35,221 representatives, including mayors/chiefs and deputy mayors/deputy chiefs, ward chairs, and members under various categories. PTI SBP AKJ IND
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