CHITWAN, MAY 24

In Bharatpur Metropolitan City, Renu Dahal of CPN-Maoist Centre and Chitrasen Adhikari of Nepali Congress have claimed the mayoral and deputy mayoral posts, respectively.

Both Dahal and Adhikari had contested in the recently concluded local level elections representing the five party alliance.

The now-elected mayor Dahal, who was favoured by 52,030 voters defeated her closest competitor Bijay Subedi of CPN-UML by a massive margin of 12,449 votes.

Renu Dahal--the daughter of CPN-Maoist centre chairperson Pushpa Kamal Dahal--had won the mayoral post in the last local level elections as well with support from the Nepali Congress. Dahal is also a former member of parliament.

In the same manner, Chitrasen Adhikari contesting under the NC banner representing the five party alliance received 52,803 votes to weigh heavier against Rastriya Prajatantrik Party candidate Himla Gurung who fell short by 22,191 votes.

Adhikari--the president of the Nepali Congress Bharatpur Metropolitan City Committee-- in the last local polls had been elected as the ward chairperson from ward 21 of the metropolitan.

Talking to the press, following the announcement of the results of the vote count, Dahal shared that as her last tenure as the mayor of the Metropolitan, she would complete the remaining work in the local level. 'I would work in accordance with my pre-election committments,' she added.