As more than half of vote counted in Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) mayoral post, independent candidate Balen Shah is leading over 18 thousands. Given the voting trend, Balen is close to victory.

In total, Nepali Congress won heights number of mayoral and deputy mayoral positions followed by main opposition party CPN-UML and Maoist Center.

Counting of votes of the local election has been completed at 716 local levels as of late Sunday evening. Biratnagar is the first metropolis where the vote counting completed.

Similarly, vote counting is completed in Dharan, Dhangadhi, Itahari, Hetauda, Butwal, Nepalgunj and Kalaiya sub-metropolitan cities, according to the information of the Election Commission.

In Dharan independent candidate Harka Raj Rai has won the mayoral post of Dharan Sub-metropolitan City of Sunsari district. According to the Election Commission, vote counting of Dharan concluded on Sunday.

Rai, whose election symbol was a stick, received 20,821 votes and won the key post of the eastern city. His closest competitor Kishor Rai from the Nepali Congress received 16,059 votes and Manju Bhandari Subedi from CPN-UML received 12,825 votes.

Aindra Bikram Begha from CPN (Maoist Centre) won the post of deputy mayor of Dharan. He received 20,510 votes while his closest competitor Padam Prasad Limbu from CPN-UML got 17,606 votes.

In Itahari, Nepali Congress candidate Hemkarna Poudel has been elected mayor of Itahari Sub-metropolitan City by garnering 33,049 votes. It is the first time an NC candidate has won local election in Itahari since the political change of 1990.

According to election results made public Sunday morning, Poudel’s closest rival Yam Kumar Chongbang Subba of CPN-UML received 28,031 votes.

However, the post of deputy mayor went to Sangita Kumari Chaudhary of CPN-UML. She secured 32,436 votes while her closet rival Keshab Kumar Bista of the CPN (Maoist Centre) got 18,031 votes. Meanwhile, the ruling alliance has won the chief post of Barahachhetra Municipality of Sunsari.

NC’s Ramesh Karki has been elected the mayor of Barahachhetra securing 19,293 votes. His closest competitor Nilam Khanal, former mayor of Barahachhetra, from CPN-UML, got 14,154 votes. However, CPN-UML’s Nanda Kumari Sunwar received 15,766 votes and won the deputy mayor post of Barahachhetra. Her closest competitor from the ruling alliance Amit Gautam of CPN (Maoist Centre) got 10,544 votes.