BAJURA, JULY 10

The mayoral and deputy mayoral candidates from the CPN-UML have won the election at Budhiganga Municipality in Bajura.

Ram Bahadur Baniya and Maya Kumari Khadka (Kunwar) were elected mayor and deputy mayor respectively in the municipality. They defeated candidates from the ruling alliance. Baniya got 4,777 votes while Kunwar received 4,727 votes. Baniya's nearest rival Ranga Bahadur Khati from the Nepali Congress got 3,774 votes while Kunwar's closest rival Rita Shahi from the Nepali Congress received 3,775 votes. Baniya and Kunwar suffered defeat in the past election as the NC's candidates. The NC had offered the tickets to new faces while the CPN-UML had repeated the same faces in this election.

Of the 10 wards, the UML won the election in seven wards while NC won in three wards of the municipality. UML candidates secured the post of ward chairperson in wards 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9 and 10 while the NC won in wards 4, 7 and 8.

The chairman candidate Rana Bahadur Thapa from the UML won the election in ward 1, Padam Bahadur Bhandari in ward 2 and Khadak Bahadur Adhikari in ward 3. Similarly, the candidate of the chairperson from the NC Min Bahadur Sha won the election in ward 4 while Chakra Bahadur Thapa from the UML won the election in ward 5.

Likewise, Hem Raj Jaisi from the UML, and Bhuwan Singh KC and Ramesh Bahadur Rawal from the NC were elected in wards 6, 7, and 8 respectively.

Min Bahadur Singh from the UML was elected chairperson in ward 9 and Dal Bahadur Saud from the UML won the election in ward 10.

The re-election was held on July 7 after the May 13 election was halted following the dispute in Budhiganga Municipality where 13,659 voters cast the ballot.

The election could not be held after the candidates were thrashed in the clash and ballot boxes were snatched in the voting centres of six wards.

More than 100 security personnel from the Nepal Police, Armed Police Force, Nepali Army and National Investigation Agency were deployed in each polling station.

Nepal Police officials had taken the leadership for the security of voting centres.

A version of this article appears in the print on July 11, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.