RAJBIRAJ, MAY 19

Saptari, where no female could make it to the mayoral post in the last election, has seen the first woman candidate elected as mayor in the district this time.

Nepali Congress' Gita Chaudhary has managed to win the mayoral post in Surunga Municipality.

While NC candidate Chaudhary has won 7,292 votes, her closest rival Ram Narayan Chaudhary of CPN (Unified Socialist) has earned 4,217 votes; according to the final vote count result made public today. In the same local level, the deputy mayoral post also went to the Congress.

Of the total 18 local bodies in the district, three had women candidates fielded for the mayoral post by different parties. While CPN-UML had forwarded Mina Kumari Ram as its mayoral candidate for Tilathi Koiladi Rural Municipality, NC had fielded Chaudhary in Surunga Municipality and Janamat Party had fielded Mamata Jha inRajbiraj Municipality.

Earlier, no woman had reached the leadership position ever since the fall of the Panchayat regime. The last time a woman was in leadership position was when Durga Devi Thapa was elected unopposed in the then Pakari Gaun Panchayat.

A version of this article appears in the print on May 20, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.