Kathmandu, May 20
Among 11 municipalities of Kathmandu district including the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, vote counting has been over in six municipalities so far as of Saturday morning.
The Nepali Congress has won the polls in Gokarneshwor, Nagarjun and Dakshinkali municipalities whereas the CPN-UML got the mayoral berths in Kirtipur, Tokha and Shankarapur municipalities.
Counting is underway in the KMC, Budhanilakantha, Tarakeshwor, Chandragiri and Kageshwori Manahara. The UML is leading in the most populous KMC as well as Budhanilakantha and Tarakeshwor. The NC is the front-runner in Chandragiri and Kageshwori Manahara.
The ruling CPN-Maoist Centre is nowhere in the scene. The party’s mayoral candidate in the KMC, Sarvottam Dangol, has already conceded the defeat.
The party has not reached the mark of 3,000 votes in any of the municipalities. The polls, hence, have arguably been an alarming debacle for the party, which had once defeated biggies from opposition parties like Madhav Kumar Nepal.
If any party got the most from this round of polls in Kathmandu, it is the main opposition CPN-UML. The party had failed to win any constituency in the district in the 2008 parliamentary polls and managed two seats in 2013.
The party’s likely victory in the KMC and other municipalities will mark an exciting comeback in the Capital.
The UML’s win will surely cost much to the NC. The party had won in eight of 10 constituencies in 2013. Now, the party has been restricted to victory in five municipalities and a humiliating second position in the KMC.
The Rastriya Prajatantra Party, which had garnered exciting votes under the Proportional Representation category in the 2013 elections, is unlikely to win any mayoral or deputy mayoral position in Kathmandu. Though the party formed an alliance with the UML for the KMC polls, it did not give any benefit to the pro-monarchy party.
So far, the party has won two ward chairpersons in municipalities of Kathmandu.
