Rajbiraj, September 25

Vote counting in Saptari’s Rajbiraj Municipality-15 is yet to conclude while victory rallies are being taken out elsewhere in the district.

Voting in Ward No 15 was halted earlier after Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal ward chair candidate Mahanthi Thakur died ahead of the polls.

The rescheduled polls in the ward were held on Thursday, with vote count following closely. However, the counting was disrupted for a day over inconsistencies in the figure of ballots. Counting resumed from 3:00pm on Saturday following an agreement at an all-party meeting.

So far counting in only three wards, namely Ward Nos 1, 3 and 4 have concluded. The municipality comprises 16 wards.

According to sources at the district election office, Rastriya Janata Party Nepal’s Chandra Shekhar Chaudhary, independent candidate Sudarshan Singh and CPN-Maoist Centre’s Akhtar Baba have been elected ward chairs from wards 1, 3 and 4 respectively. Meanwhile, for the post of mayor, there has been tough competition among RJP-N, CPN-Maoist Centre and Federalist Socialist Forum-Nepal.

As per the latest data, RJP-N mayoral and deputy mayoral candidates have garnered 1,138 and 1,098 votes.

While CPN-MC candidates have secured 1,022 and 644 votes for the post of mayor and deputy mayor respectively, FSF-N mayoral and deputy mayoral candidates have received 904 and 894 votes.

Election results declared so far show the NC and the FSF-N have won five local bodies each.

Similarly RJP-N and CPN-UML have secured victory in four and two local units respectively. Naya Shakti Nepal has won in one place.

The district has a total of 18 local levels.