Rautahat, September 21

The disrupted vote counting process in Rautahat’s Garuda Municipality-3 has yet to resume.

Vote counting process there has been disrupted from yesterday morning after the CPN-MC sought a recount of votes when Nepali Congress Ward chairperson candidate Krishna Kumar Sahani defeated CPN-MC candidate Shailadevi Sahani by a margin of one vote.

As the disrupted vote counting process is yet to resume, Returning Officer Nabin Kumar Joshi has left the vote counting site. Attempts to contact him for comment were not possible as his mobile phone was switched off.

Chief District Officer Uddhav Bahadur Thapa said attempts are on to settle the dispute. He, however, disavowed the disappearance of the returning officer.

Of the local bodies where vote counting is on, NC is leading in five local bodies, Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal and Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal are leading in three places each. CPN-MC is leading in two places.