Nepalgunj, July 4

Defeating major parties, Rastriya Prajatantra Party’s Dhawal Shumsher Rana won the mayoral post in Nepalgunj Sub-metropolitan city. Nepali Congress candidate Uma Thapa Magar bagged the deputy mayoral post.

According to the final result of vote counting, Rana received 12,515 votes while his nearest rival NC’s Suresh Kumar Kanodiya garnered 8,730 votes.

Rana is the former mayor of the sub-metropolis. The final result was announced at around 2:00am today.

Thapamagar defeated RPP’s Ramarani Baishya and won the deputy mayoral post securing 10,731 votes while her closest rival got 8,924 votes.

Of the 23 wards in the sub-metropolis, Nepali Congress has secured victory in eight wards, while CPN-UML, CPN-Maoist Centre, Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Federal Socialist Forum have won 5,4,3 and 2 wards respectively.

A large crowd had gathered outside the vote counting centre — Bheri Technicians’ Academy — after the final results were announced.

After he was elected mayor, Rana announced that he would not draw monthly salary and allowance. He pledged to make Nepalgunj a model city and vowed to eliminate corruption.

A Resident of Nepalgunj, Rana started his political career as Banke district secretary of RPP’s youth wing at the age of 27. Though he contested parliamentary polls as an independent candidate, Rana was not elected in 1995. Three years later, he joined the CPN-UML and won the post of mayor in the local polls of 1998.

After winning the office of mayor, Rana devoted his time to the development of Nepalgunj. He did not draw salary and allowance then. Due to his contribution to the city, he was re-elected to the post of mayor.

Rana had contested the polls of the first Constituent Assembly from Rastriya Prajatantra Party and second Constituent Assembly from then Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal. He, however, was defeated with a small margin of votes. He was defeated by then NC president Sushil Koirala.

Rana became general secretary of Rastriya Prajatantra Party after Rastriya Prajatantra Party unified with Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal.

Deputy Mayor-elect Uma Thapamagar was elected treasurer of Free Students’ Union at Mahendra Multiple Campus, Nepalgunj when she was a student. Later, she was more active in journalism and social service than in politics. She worked to inform society through journalism for one-and-a-half decade.

A former central member of Nepal Students’ Union and Nepal Press Union, Thapa was recommended for member of Constituent Assembly under the proportional representation system in the second CA polls.