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]
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167 seats to Pokhara Metropolitan City Council 84 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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 | Parties | Symbol | Name | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayor | CPN (Unified Socialist) |  | Dhanraj Acharya | |
| Rastriya Prajatantra Party | _election_symbol.svg) | Shankar Kharal | ||
| CPN (UML) | _election_symbol_1.png) | 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 |
| 37% | 29% | 25% | 6% |
Exit polls
| Date | Pollster | Thapa | Acharya | Paudel | Kharel | Others | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UML | US | Ind. | RPP | ||||
| 13 May 2022 | Facts Nepal[10] | 41.7% | 37.8% | 7.7% | 4.5% | 8.3% | 3.9% |
Mayoral results
| 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 | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPN (UML) | Manju Devi Gurung | 60,546 | 49.0% | +0.7% | |
| NC | 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
| 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 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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] | Party | 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 | |