2022 Dharan municipal election

2022 Dharan municipal elections
	13 May 2022
102 seats to Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City Council; 52 seats needed for a majority
Mayor before election; Tilak Rai; Congress	Elected Mayor ; Harka Raj Rai; Independent

Municipal election for Dharan took place on 13 May 2022, with all 102 positions up for election across 20 wards.^[1]^[2] The electorate elected a mayor, a deputy mayor, 20 ward chairs and 80 ward members. An indirect election will also be held to elect five female members and an additional three female members from the Dalit and minority community to the municipal executive.^[3]^[4]

Independent candidate Harka Raj Rai was elected as the mayor of the sub-metropolitan city.^[5]

Background

Dharan was established in 1958 as a municipality. The sub-metropolitan was created in 2014 by incorporating neighboring village development committees into Dharan municipality.^[6] Electors in each ward elect a ward chair and four ward members, out of which two must be female and one of the two must belong to the Dalit community.^[7]

In the previous election, Tara Subba from the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) was elected as the mayor but after he died on 18 July 2018, Tilak Rai from the Nepali Congress was elected as mayor in a by-election in 2019.^[8]^[9]

Candidates

Party		Mayor candidate
	Nepali Congress	Kishor Rai^[10]
	CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	Manju Bhandari
	Independent	Harka Raj Rai

Opinion poll

Date	News agency	Sample size	Harka Sampang	Sagar Thapa	Manju Bhandari	Others/Undecided	Result
5 May 2022	Setopati^[11]	100	36	22	18	24	Hung
5 May 2022	Setopati^[11]	100	36%	22%	18%	24%	Hung

Exit polls

Date	Pollster	Rai	Bhandari	Sampang	Shakya	Others	Lead
		Congress	UML	Ind	RPP	Others

13 May 2022	Facts Nepal^[12]	36.7%	30.5%	18.7%	5.2%	8.9%	6.2%

Results

Mayoral election

Mayoral elections result
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Harka Raj Rai	20,821	39.8%	+39.0%
	Congress	Kishore Rai	16,051	30.7%	−19.0%
	CPN (UML)	Manju Bhandari Subedi	12,825	24.5%	−20%
	RPP	Naresh Kumar Shakya	1,488	2.8%	+2.5%
	Others		1,142	2.2%
Total votes			52,335	100.0%
Rejected ballots			10,562
Turnout			62,897
Registered electors			100,324
	Independent gain from Congress		Swing	+29.0%

Deputy mayoral elections result
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Maoist Centre	Aindra Bikram Begha	20,510	45.0%	*New*
	CPN (UML)	Padam Prasad Limbu	17,606	38.6%	−9.7%
	Independent	Dutta Kumar Limbu	4,129	9.1%	New
	RPP	Purna Maya Rai	2,237	4.9%	+3.8%
	Others		1,116	2.4%
Total votes			45,598	100.0%
Rejected ballots			17,299
Turnout			62,897
Registered electors			100,324
	Maoist Centre gain from CPN (UML)		Swing	+27.4%

Ward results

Partywise Ward chairman and Ward member seats won, 2022
Political Party		Ward Chairman	Ward Members
	CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist)	10	46
	Nepali Congress	7	30
	CPN (Maoist Centre)	1	4
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party	1	0
	Independent	1	0
Total		20	80

Summary of results by ward

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Ward Chairman
Ward Member 1
Ward Member 2
Female Member
Female Dalit Member
Source: Election Commission

Council formation

Party		Mayor	Deputy Mayor	Ward Chairman	Ward Members	Total seats	Remarks
	Independent	1		1		2
	Communist Party of Nepal (UML)			10	46	56	Majority
	Nepali Congress			7	30	37
	CPN (Maoist Centre)		1	1	4	6
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party			1	0	1
Total		1	1	20	80	102	52 for Majority

References

^ Article 215(6), Constitution of Nepal (in Nepali), September 20, 2015
^ "Government announces local level elections for May 13". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
^ यसरी चुनिँदै छन् स्थानीय प्रतिनिधि, कार्यपालिकाभन्दा व्यवस्थापिका ठूलो. Setopati. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
^ Article 216(4), Constitution of Nepal (in Nepali), September 20, 2015
^ "Independent candidate Harka Raj Rai elected mayor of Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
^ Magazine, New Spolight. "Nepal government declares 61 new municipalities". SpotlightNepal. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
^ Article 223(2), Constitution of Nepal (in Nepali), September 20, 2015
^ Rai, Rohit. "NC's Tilak Rai elected as mayor of Dharan". My Republica. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
^ "Dharan Mayor Subba, 52, dies in hospital". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
^ रातोपाटी. "काँग्रेसले सुनसरी तय गर्‍यो उम्मेदवार : इटहरीमा हेमकर्ण र धरानमा किशोर". RatoPati (in Nepali). Retrieved 2022-04-25.
^ Setopati, Bhanubhakta. "Dharan may spring another surprise by electing independent candidate Harka Sampang as mayor". Setopati. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
^ "धरान उप-महानगरपालिका". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-05-13.

[:0-1] Article 215(6), Constitution of Nepal (in Nepali), September 20, 2015

[2] "Government announces local level elections for May 13". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2022-05-23.

[3] यसरी चुनिँदै छन् स्थानीय प्रतिनिधि, कार्यपालिकाभन्दा व्यवस्थापिका ठूलो. Setopati. Retrieved 2 June 2017.

[4] Article 216(4), Constitution of Nepal (in Nepali), September 20, 2015

[5] "Independent candidate Harka Raj Rai elected mayor of Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2022-05-23.

[6] Magazine, New Spolight. "Nepal government declares 61 new municipalities". SpotlightNepal. Retrieved 2022-05-23.

[7] Article 223(2), Constitution of Nepal (in Nepali), September 20, 2015

[8] Rai, Rohit. "NC's Tilak Rai elected as mayor of Dharan". My Republica. Retrieved 2022-05-23.

[9] "Dharan Mayor Subba, 52, dies in hospital". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2022-05-23.

[10] रातोपाटी. "काँग्रेसले सुनसरी तय गर्‍यो उम्मेदवार : इटहरीमा हेमकर्ण र धरानमा किशोर". RatoPati (in Nepali). Retrieved 2022-04-25.

[11] Setopati, Bhanubhakta. "Dharan may spring another surprise by electing independent candidate Harka Sampang as mayor". Setopati. Retrieved 2022-05-10.

[12] "धरान उप-महानगरपालिका". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-05-13.

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2022 Nepalese local elections
Metropolitan Cities	Bharatpur Biratnagar Birgunj Kathmandu Lalitpur Pokhara
Sub-metropolitan Cities	Butwal Dhangadhi Ghorahi Hetauda Itahari Janakpur Jitpursimara Kalaiya Nepalgunj Tulsipur
Municipalities	Rajbiraj