102 seats to Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City Council 52 seats needed for a majority
First party
Second party
Candidate
Harka Raj Rai
Kishore Rai
Party
Independent
Congress
Popular vote
20,821
16,051
Percentage
39.8%
30.7%
Third party
Fourth party
Candidate
Manju Bhandari Subedi
Naresh Kumar Shakya
Party
CPN (UML)
RPP
Popular vote
12,825
1,488
Percentage
24.5%
2.8%
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]