2022 Pokhara municipal election

2022 Pokhara municipal elections
	13 May 2022
167 seats to Pokhara Metropolitan City Council; 84 seats needed for a majority
Mayor before election; Man Bahadur GC; CPN (UML)	Elected Mayor ; Dhana Raj Acharya; Unified Socialist

Municipal election for Pokhara took place on 13 May 2022, with all 167 positions up for election across 33 wards.^[2]^[3] The electorate elected a mayor, a deputy mayor, 33 ward chairs and 132 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.^[4]^[5]

Dhanraj Acharya of CPN (Unified Socialist) was elected mayor of Pokhara Metropolitan city.

Background

Pokhara was established in 1962 as a municipality. The metropolitan city was created in 2017 by incorporating neighboring village development committees and Lekhnath municipality into Pokhara sub-metropolitan city.^[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, Man Bahadur GC from CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) was elected as the first mayor of the metropolitan city.^[8]

Mayor and deputy mayor candidates

Post		Name
Mayor	CPN (Unified Socialist)	Dhanraj Acharya
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party	Shankar Kharal
	CPN (UML)	Krishna Bahadur Thapa
Deputy mayor	Nepali Congress	Kopila Ranabhat
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party	Ranjana Kumari Saini Paudel
	CPN (UML)	Manju Devi Gurung

Surveys and opinion polls

Date	News agency	Sample size	Dhan Raj Acharya	Undecided	Krishna Bahadur Thapa	Shankar Kharal	Result
9 May 2022	Setopati^[9]	150	56	43	38	9	Hung
9 May 2022	Setopati^[9]	150	37%	29%	25%	6%	Hung

Exit polls

Date	Pollster	Thapa	Acharya	Paudel	Kharel	Others	Lead
		UML	US	Ind.	RPP	Others

13 May 2022	Facts Nepal^[10]	41.7%	37.8%	7.7%	4.5%	8.3%	3.9%

Mayoral results

Mayoral elections result
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unified Socialist	Dhan Raj Acharya	58,893	48.1%	*New*
	CPN (UML)	Krishna Bahadur Thapa	52,848	43.2%	−9.9%
	RPP	Shankar Kharal	5,674	4.6%	+2.6%
	Independent	Khadak Raj Paudel	3,030	2.5%	New
	Others		1,884	1.5%
Total valid votes			122,329	100.0%
Rejected ballots			20897
Turnout			143,226
Registered electors			207,712	^[11]
	Unified Socialist gain from CPN (UML)		Swing

Deputy mayoral elections result
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	CPN (UML)	Manju Devi Gurung	60,546	49.0%	+0.7%
	Congress	Kopila Ranabhat	56,663	45.9%	+8.0%
	RPP	Ranjana Kumari Sen	5,597	4.6%	+2.2%
	Others		530	0.4%
Total valid votes			123,438	100.0%
Rejected ballots			19788
Turnout			143,226
Registered electors			207,712	^[11]
	CPN (UML) hold

Ward results

Summary of Partywise Ward chairman and Ward member seats won, 2022
Party		Chairman	Members
	Nepali Congress	23	56
	CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	9	76
	Independent	1	0
Total		33	132

Summary of results by ward

Ward No.	Ward Chair		Ward Members
Ward No.	Ward Chair		Open	Open 2	Female	Female Dalit
1		Shahara Pradhan
2		Diwas Man Pradhananga
3		Prakash Man Udas
4		Dev Krishna Parajuli
5		Bishnu Prasad Baral
6		Bishnu Bahadur Bhattarai
7		Ram Mohan Acharya
8		Rudra Nath Baral
9		Dipendra Marsani
10		Rajesh Gurung
11		Prem Prasad Karmacharya
12		Santosh Bastola
13		Kiran Baral
14		Bodh Bahadur Karki
15		Toran Bahadur Baniya
16		Amrit Sharma Timilsina
17		Radhika Kumari Shahi
18		Shiva Prasad Timilsina
19		Pushpendra Pandey
20		Ganga Bahadur Khatri
21		Dipak Prasad Subedi
22		Him Lal Baral
23		Ram Kaji Gurung
24		Bharat Bahadur Adhikari
25		Moti Lal Timilsina
26		Narendra Thapa
27		Purna Kumar Gurung
28		Shree Krishna Lamichhane
29		Shree Prasad Gurung
30		Durga Prasad Subedi
31		Dhaknath Kadel
32		Akkal Bahadur Karki
33		Ram Chandra Adhikari

Results for municipal executive election

The municipal executive consists of the mayor, who is also the chair of the municipal executive, the deputy mayor and ward chairs from each ward. The members of the municipal assembly will elect five female members and three members from the Dalit and minority community to the municipal executive using single non-transferable vote.^[12]

Municipal Assembly composition

Party		Members
	CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	86
	Nepali Congress	79
	CPN (Unified Socialist)	1
	Independent	1
Total		167

Results

Category	Candidate^[13]		Votes
Female Member	Dhankumari Pokharel	CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	86
	Nirmala Paudel		86
	Bhimkumari Pun Garbuja		86
	Mandira Pariyar		86
	Harimaya Bishwakarma		86
	Daldadevi Bhujel	Nepali Congress	81
	Durgadevi Thapa		81
	Pabitra Thapa		81
	Ransuwa Gurung		80
	Bhawana Shrestha		79
Dalit/Minority Member	Nirmal Diyali	CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	87
	Govinda Tulachan		86
	Dipak Ghimire		86
	Lal Bahadur B.K.	CPN (Unified Socialist)	81
	Pan Bahadur Gharti	People's Socialist Party	80
	Bhim Bahadur Sarki	CPN (Maoist Centre)	78

Municipal Executive composition

Party		Members
	Nepali Congress	23
	CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	18
	CPN (Unified Socialist)	1
	Independent	1
Total		43

References

^ "Local election on May 13". February 7, 2022. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
^ 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.
^ Article 216(4), Constitution of Nepal (in Nepali), September 20, 2015
^ यसरी चुनिँदै छन् स्थानीय प्रतिनिधि, कार्यपालिकाभन्दा व्यवस्थापिका ठूलो. Setopati. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
^ "Pokhara Lekhnath becomes largest metropolitan city". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
^ Article 223(2), Constitution of Nepal (in Nepali), September 20, 2015
^ "UML wins mayor, deputy mayor in Pokhara Lekhnath metropolis". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2022-05-23.
^ Setopati, Manoj Satyal. "Dhan Raj Acharya of Unified Socialist slightly ahead of UML's Krishna Thapa in Pokhara". Setopati. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
^ "पोखरा महानगरपालिका". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
^ ^a ^b "प्रेस विज्ञप्ति" (PDF). Election Commission, Nepal (in Nepali). Retrieved 26 May 2022.
^ Article 216, Constitution of Nepal (in Nepali), September 20, 2015
^ "पोखरा महानगरको कार्यपालिका सदस्यमा एमालेको प्यानल निर्वाचित". Pahilo Post (in Nepali). Retrieved 2022-06-11.

[1] "Local election on May 13". February 7, 2022. Retrieved February 10, 2022.

[:0-2] Article 215(6), Constitution of Nepal (in Nepali), September 20, 2015

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

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

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

[6] "Pokhara Lekhnath becomes largest metropolitan city". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2022-05-23.

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

[8] "UML wins mayor, deputy mayor in Pokhara Lekhnath metropolis". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2022-05-23.

[9] Setopati, Manoj Satyal. "Dhan Raj Acharya of Unified Socialist slightly ahead of UML's Krishna Thapa in Pokhara". Setopati. Retrieved 2022-05-09.

[10] "पोखरा महानगरपालिका". Twitter. Retrieved 2022-05-13.

[voter-11] "प्रेस विज्ञप्ति" (PDF). Election Commission, Nepal (in Nepali). Retrieved 26 May 2022.

[:2-12] Article 216, Constitution of Nepal (in Nepali), September 20, 2015

[13] "पोखरा महानगरको कार्यपालिका सदस्यमा एमालेको प्यानल निर्वाचित". Pahilo Post (in Nepali). Retrieved 2022-06-11.

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