KATHMANDU: The Election Commission on Tuesday has said that at least 10 places have been assigned to count the votes in Bharatpur Metropolitan City from tonight.

Responding to the criticism from different quarters over the delay in the counting of votes, EC has decided to assign the additional number of places under the supervision of election officers.

The all-party meeting had decided to take this decision to address the painstakingly slow counting of votes in the metropolis.

According to the Chitwan District Chief Officer Narayan Prasad Bhatta vote would be counted from ten places, including six places assigned to arrange the ballot papers and other four places to count the vote to expedite the results.

Earlier, three places were assigned to count the votes, as two places were assigned for vote counting and one place to arrange the ballot papers.

Meanwhile, the Election Officers, Chief District Officer, Acting Chief Officer of Bharatpur Metropolitan City, Local Development Officers, District Education Officers have been handed the task of supervising ten different vote counting places.

Similarly, the vote counting of ward number 1 in the Bharatpur Metropolitan City is over as it has 29 wards.

Nepali Congress candidate Jaya Ram Shrestha has been elected as ward chairman as he edged his nearest rival CPN-UML Geeta Shrestha by 14 vote's margin. Jaya Ram Shrestha had collected 1177 votes.

As of now, CPN-UML mayor candidate Devi Prasad Gyawali has collected 1513 votes to CPN Maoist Centre's Renu Dahal, daughter of PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal, 1135 votes. He leads the race by 378 votes.

Likewise, Nepal Congress deputy mayoral candidate Parbati Shah has collected 1401 votes to CPN-UML candidate Divya Sharma Acharya's 1188 votes. Shah currently leads by 213 votes.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission has said it would complete the vote counting of Bharatpur Metropolitan City within a week.