2022 Nepalese local elections

2022 Nepalese local elections

←  2017 13 May 2022 [1] 2027 →
6 Metropolitan Cities 11 Sub-Metropolitan Cities 276 Municipalities 460 Rural Municipalities
Turnout	70.96% ( 3.20pp) [2]
First party Second party Third party   Leader Sher Bahadur Deuba KP Sharma Oli Pushpa Kamal Dahal Party Nepali Congress CPN (UML) Maoist Centre Leader since 7 March 2016 8 March 2021 8 March 2021 Heads 329 206 121 Heads +/– 54 65 15 Ward chairs 2,658 2,132 1,053 Ward chairs +/– 284 428 49 Popular Vote 3,956,193 3,811,602 1,503,247   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Upendra Yadav Madhav Kumar Nepal Mahantha Thakur Party PSP-N Unified Socialist Loktantrik Samajwadi Leader since May 2020 18 August 2021 18 August 2021 Heads 30 20 16 Heads +/– 13 1 2 Ward chairs 295 190 103 Ward chairs +/– 11 190 92 Popular Vote 577,380 422,737 255,882   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   Leader Rajendra Lingden Chitra Bahadur K.C. Ranjita Shrestha Party RPP Rastriya Janamorcha Nagrik Unmukti Leader since 5 December 2021 26 May 2006 3 January 2022 Heads 4 4 4 Heads +/– 1 1 4 Ward chairs 62 26 14 Ward chairs +/– 1 7 14 Popular Vote 363,160 40,491 31,039

The 2022 Nepalese local elections were held on 13 May 2022 in 6 metropolitan cities, 11 sub-metropolitan cities, 276 municipalities and 460 rural municipalities. ^[3] These were the second set of local-level elections to be held since the promulgation of the new constitution in 2015. ^[4] From the local election result Nepali Congress has become the single largest party of Nepal followed by CPN (UML) and Maoist Centre.

Electoral system

Each local body has an elected head, a chair for rural municipalities and a mayor for municipalities. They also have a deputy head, a deputy chair for rural municipalities and a deputy mayor for municipalities. Local levels are further subdivided into wards which have a ward chairperson and four members out of which two must be female with one of them from the Dalit community. ^[5] The Chairperson/Mayor and a Deputy chairperson/Deputy Mayor are chosen by voters of the entire local level while Ward Chairperson and Ward Members are chosen by voters of the concerned ward. A single ballot is used for voting and First past the post electoral system is used to select the winner.

Local Level Type	Choice
Metropolitan City	Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Ward Chairperson, 4 Ward members per ward
Sub-Metropolitan City	Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Ward Chairperson, 4 Ward members per ward
Municipality	Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Ward Chairperson, 4 Ward members per ward
Rural Municipality	Chairperson, deputy chairperson, Ward Chairperson, 4 Ward members per ward

Qualification for candidates

According to Part 17 of the Constitution, a person who meets the following criteria is qualified to become a candidate for various elected offices of the local level: ^[6]

• citizen of Nepal,
• completed the age of twenty one years,
• registered voters of concerned local level, ^{[lower-alpha 1]} and
• not being disqualified by any Federal law,

Date	Pollster	Party		Mayor and Chairperson	Deputy mayor and Deputy chairperson	Ward chairman	Increase or Decrease
10 May 2022	Setopati [7]		Congress	295-317	288-309	2462-2607
			UML	235-253	241-264	2085-2299
			Maoist Centre	76-105	72-99	970-1130
			CPN (US)	35-43	39-47	290-370
			PSP-N	24-32	23-29	200-245
			RPP	13-22	11-15	82-104
			LSP-N	12-17	14-19	89-119
			Ind	6-9	1-5	92-118
			RJM	2-4	2-3	31-46
			NMKP	1-2	1-2	18-23	-/
			Janamat	2-5	1-3	14-20
			PPP	0-3	0-2	12-21
			PFP	0-2	0-1	9-16
			Others	0-2	0-1	31-47	-
Total				753	753	6742

Exit poll

Mayor/Chairperson post

Date	Pollster	Party		Province 1	Madhesh province	Bagmati province	Gandaki province	Lumbini province	Karnali province	Sudurpaschim province	Total
13 May 2022	ABC Television [8]		Congress	60-70	45-50	40-44	46-50	38-42	20-23	42-47	292-326
			UML	36-40	23-24	43-50	23-25	29-30	13-16	18-23	185-209
			Maoist Centre	15-16	16-18	18-20	5-8	20-25	27-33	17-20	118-142
			PSP-N	2-4	27-34	-	2-3	9-15	-	1-2	41-59
			CPN (US)	1-2	2-4	2-3	-	1-2	5-7	2-4	13-23
			LSP-N	1-2	8-12	-	-	1-2	-	1-2	11-18
			RJM	-	-	-	2	3	-	-	5
			RPP	2-3	0-1	1-2	-	0-1	-	0-1	3-8
			Others/Independent	-	1-2	1-2	-	1-2	1-2	1-2	6-10
			High competition	20	15	14	7	6	13	6	81
Total				137	136	119	85	109	78	88	753

Results

Overall Results

Parties		Mayor/Chair	Deputy mayor/chair	Ward chair	Ward members	Total
	Nepali Congress	329	300	2,668	10,476	13,773
	CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	206	241	2,137	9,345	11,929
	CPN (Maoist Centre)	121	128	1,053	3,743	5,045
	People's Socialist Party, Nepal	30	31	295	1,193	1,548
	CPN (Unified Socialist)	20	23	190	754	987
	Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Nepal	16	12	103	450	581
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party	4	4	62	235	305
	Rastriya Janamorcha	4	3	26	126	159
	Nagrik Unmukti Party	4	3	14	78	99
	Janamat Party	2	1	19	74	96
	Nepal Workers Peasants Party	1	1	19	64	85
	People's Progressive Party	1	1	4	16	22
	Bibeksheel Sajha Party	1	1	2	7	11
	Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party	1	0	3	8	12
	Nepal Janata Party	0	0	2	8	10
	Sanghiya Loktantrik Rastriya Manch	0	0	2	7	9
	Nepali Congress (B.P.)	0	0	2	5	7
	Nepal Loktantrik Party	0	0	1	6	7
	Rastriya Janamukti Party	0	0	1	6	7
	Bahujan Shakti Party	0	0	1	5	6
	Bahujan Ekata Party Nepal	0	0	1	4	5
	Nepal Susashan Party	0	0	1	3	4
	CPN Maoist Socialist	0	0	0	2	2
	Nepal Sadbhawana Party	0	0	0	1	1
	Independents	13	4	137	232	385
Total		753	753	6,743	26,848	35,097
Source: Election Commission of Nepal [9] [10]

By province

Province 1

Parties		Mayor/Chairperson	Deputy mayor/chairperson	Ward chair	Ward members	Total
	Nepali Congress	69	46	470	1,761	2,346
	CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	47	63	476	2,200	2,786
	CPN (Maoist Centre)	12	19	127	401	559
	CPN (Unified Socialist)	2	5	20	75	102
	People's Socialist Party, Nepal	2	2	20	88	112
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party	2	2	14	43	61
	Sanghiya Loktantrik Rastriya Manch	0	0	2	7	9
	Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Nepal	0	0	1	4	5
	Rastriya Janamukti Party	0	0	1	4	5
	Independents	3	0	26	39	68
Total		137	137	1,157	4,622	6,053
Source: Election Commission of Nepal [11]

Madhesh Province

Party		Mayor/Chairperson	Deputy mayor/chairperson	Ward chair	Ward members	Total
	Nepali Congress	46	56	418	1,676	2,196
	CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	30	27	274	1,136	1,467
	People's Socialist Party, Nepal	25	26	226	931	1,208
	Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Nepal	14	10	87	372	483
	CPN (Maoist Centre)	9	9	139	523	680
	CPN (Unified Socialist)	6	5	80	310	401
	Janamat Party	2	1	13	46	62
	Bibeksheel Sajha Party	1	1	2	7	11
	Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party	1	0	3	8	12
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party	0	0	6	24	30
	Bahujan Ekata Party Nepal	0	0	1	4	5
	Nepal Loktantrik Party	0	0	1	4	5
	Nepal Janata Party	0	0	1	4	5
	Nepal Susashan Party	0	0	1	3	4
	Bahujan Shakti Party	0	0	0	1	1
	Nepal Sadbhwana Party	0	0	0	1	1
	Independents	2	1	19	28	50
Total		136	136	1,271	5,078	6,621
Source: Election Commission of Nepal [12]

Bagmati Province

Parties		Mayor/Chairperson	Deputy mayor/chairperson	Ward chair	Ward members	Total
	Nepali Congress	58	50	488	1,914	2,510
	CPN (Maoist Centre)	27	30	204	707	968
	CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	26	34	359	1,636	2,055
	CPN (Unified Socialist)	5	4	25	83	117
	Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party	1	1	12	40	54
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party	1	0	14	47	62
	People's Socialist Party, Nepal	0	0	1	2	3
	Independents	1	0	18	18	37
Total		119	119	1,121	4,447	5,806
Source: Election Commission of Nepal [13]

Gandaki Province

Party		Mayor/Chairperson	Deputy mayor/chairperson	Ward chair	Ward members	Total
	Nepali Congress	36	31	351	1,306	1,724
	CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	35	33	284	1,279	1,631
	CPN (Maoist Centre)	11	19	89	303	422
	Rastriya Janamorcha	2	1	10	46	59
	CPN (Unified Socialist)	1	0	3	16	20
	People's Socialist Party, Nepal	0	0	3	12	15
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party	0	0	1	10	11
	Rastriya Janamukti Party	0	0	0	1	1
	Independents	0	1	18	35	54
Total		85	85	759	3,008	3,937
Source: Election Commission of Nepal [14]

Lumbini Province

Parties		Mayor/Chairperson	Deputy mayor/chairperson	Ward chair	Ward members	Total
	Nepali Congress	48	44	375	1,516	1,983
	CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	27	40	314	1,315	1,696
	CPN (Maoist Centre)	25	15	170	621	831
	People's Socialist Party, Nepal	3	3	43	153	202
	Rastriya Janamorcha	2	2	16	80	100
	Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Nepal	2	2	15	74	93
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party	1	2	21	84	108
	People's Progressive Party, Nepal	1	1	4	16	22
	Janamat Party	0	0	6	28	34
	CPN (Unified Socialist)	0	0	4	12	16
	Bahujan Shakti Party	0	0	1	4	5
	Nepal Janata Party	0	0	1	4	5
	Rastriya Janamukti Party	0	0	0	1	1
	Independents	0	0	13	24	37
Total		109	109	983	3,932	5,133
Source: Election Commission of Nepal [15]

Karnali Province

Party		Mayor/Chairperson	Deputy mayor/chairperson	Ward chair	Ward members	Total
	Nepali Congress	32	27	253	944	1,256
	CPN (Maoist Centre)	23	25	223	855	1,126
	CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	15	20	184	818	1,037
	CPN (Unified Socialist)	4	6	30	140	180
	Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party	0	0	7	24	31
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party	0	0	1	10	11
	CPN Maoist Socialist	0	0	0	2	2
	Independents	5	1	20	42	68
Total		79	79	718	2,835	3,711
Source: Election Commission of Nepal [16]

Sudurpaschim Province

Parties		Mayor/Chairperson	Deputy mayor/chairperson	Ward chair	Ward members	Total
	Nepali Congress	40	46	313	1,359	1,758
	CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)	26	24	246	961	1,257
	CPN (Maoist Centre)	14	11	101	333	459
	Nagrik Unmukti Party	4	3	14	78	99
	CPN (Unified Socialist)	2	3	28	118	151
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party	0	0	5	17	22
	People's Socialist Party, Nepal	0	0	2	7	9
	Nepali Congress (B.P.)	0	0	2	5	7
	Nepal Loktantrik Party	0	0	0	2	2
	Independents	2	1	23	46	72
Total		88	88	734	2,926	3,836
Source: Election Commission of Nepal [17]

Major cities

Metropolitan cities

City	District	Province	Outgoing mayor		Elected mayor		Details
Biratnagar	Morang	Province No. 1		Bheem Parajuli (Congress)		Naagesh Koirala (Congress)	Details
Birgunj	Parsa	Madhesh		Vijaya Kumar Sarawagi (FSFN)		Rajesh Man Singh (PSPN)	Details
Lalitpur	Lalitpur	Bagmati		Chiri Babu Maharjan (Congress)		Chiri Babu Maharjan (Congress)	Details
Bharatpur	Chitwan			Renu Dahal (Maoist Centre)		Renu Dahal (Maoist Centre)	Details
Kathmandu	Kathmandu			Bidya Sundar Shakya (UML)		Balendra Shah (Independent)	Details
Pokhara	Kaski	Gandaki		Man Bahadur GC (UML)		Dhanraj Acharya (Socialist)	Details

Sub-metropolitan cities

City	District	Province	Outgoing mayor		Elected mayor		Details
Dharan	Sunsari	Province No. 1		Tilak Rai (Congress)		Harka Raj Rai (Independent)	Details
Itahari				Dwarika Lal Chaudhary (UML)		Hem Karna Paudel (Congress)	Details
Janakpur	Dhanusha	Madhesh		Lal Kishor Sah (RJPN)		Manoj Kumar Sah (Independent)	Details
Kalaiya	Bara			Rajesh Raya Yadav (Congress)		Binod Prasad Shah (UML)	Details
Jitpursimara				Krishna Prasad Paudel (UML)		Rajan Paudel (Maoist Centre)	Details
Hetauda	Makwanpur	Bagmati		Hari Bahadur Mahat (UML)		Mina Kumari Lama (Socialist)	Details
Butwal	Rupandehi	Lumbini		Shiva Raj Subedi (UML)		Khel Raj Panday (Congress)	Details
Tulsipur	Dang			Ghana Shyam Pandey (UML)		Tika Ram Adhikari (UML)	Details
Ghorahi				Naru Lal Chaudhary (UML)		Naru Lal Chaudhary (UML)	Details
Nepalgunj	Banke			Dhawal Shamsher Rana (RPP)		Prashant Bista (Congress)	Details
Dhangadhi	Kailali	Sudurpashchim		Nrip Bahadur Wad (Congress)		Gopal Hamal (Independent)	Details

Incidents

The Election Commission of Nepal sought clarification from CPN (Maoist Centre) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and the wife of prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, Arzu Rana Deuba for violating the code of conduct during their election rally. ^[18]

The chairman of the Muslim Commission Samim Miya Ansari was caught in Janakpurdham during the silence period of election campaigning for trying to buy votes for independent candidate Janakiram Sah and Surendra Bhandari, the chair of the Janakpur committee of CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) was also arrested for trying to buy votes. ^[19] Ansari later accused UML leaders Raghubir Mahasheth and Julie Kumari Mahato of framing him. ^[20]

During election day, the commission fined former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai NPR 15,000 for breaking the code of conduct by tweeting a picture of his ballot paper. ^[21] In Vyas municipality in Tanahun, independent candidate, Deepak Raj Joshi, son of former Nepali Congress leader Govinda Raj Joshi, sustained injuries to the head after being beaten up by cadres of Nepali Congress. ^[22] After clashes broke out between cadres of People's Socialist Party, Nepali Congress and CPN (UML) in Yamunamai Rural Municipality in Rautahat, a former police constable ran away with the ballot box in the ensuing chaos and voting was suspended. ^[23] He was later arrested. ^[24]

According to the National Human Rights Commission voting was suspended in different parts of the country due to clashes between supporters of different political parties. ^[25] The Election Commission of Nepal reported that voting was suspended in 79 polling centres on May 13. ^[26]

After accusations of booth capturing by CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) in Budhiganga Rural Municipality in Bajura, Nepali Congress demanded that a re-election be held. ^[27] The Election Commission later agreed with the demands and a re-election was held on 7 July. ^{[28] [29]}

See also

• List of chairpersons of rural municipalities in Nepal
• List of mayors of municipalities in Nepal
• Elections in Nepal

Notes

1. Candidates for ward chairperson and ward members must be registered in the concerned ward

References

1. "Local election on May 13". February 7, 2022. Retrieved February 10, 2022.
2. Ghimire, Binod. "Nepalis in general love to vote. Why is turnout low then? Disenchantment?". The Kathmandu Post. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
3. "Nepal Election Commission proposes local level polls in March next year". ANI News. Retrieved 2021-11-13.
4. "देउवाको रणनीति : स्थानीय तहभन्दा पहिले संसदको चुनाव". Online Khabar. Retrieved 2021-12-08.
5. "Elections in Nepal 2017 Local Elections Frequently Asked Questions" (PDF). International Foundation for Electoral Systems. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-07-12.
6. Part 17 Constitution of Nepal
7. Setopati, सेतोपाटी टिम. "काठमाडौंको भित्री नेवार बस्तीमा केशव स्थापित, सिर्जना सिंह र बालेन शाहमध्ये को बलियो?". Setopati. Retrieved 2022-05-10.
8. "स्थानीय तह निर्वाचनको एक्जीट पोल सार्वजनिक : काँग्रेस पहिलो, दोस्रो एमाले , तेस्रो माओवादी केन्द्र (यस्तो छ नतिजा)". ABC NEWS NEPAL | No.1 News channel of Nepal. 2022-05-13. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
9. "स्थानीय तह निर्वाचन इ-बुलेटिन •वर्ष १ • अंक ४३ • २०७९ जेठ १२ गते बिहिबार" (PDF). Election Commission of Nepal. 26 May 2022.
10. "निर्वाचन परिणाम तथा खर्च सार्वजनकीकरण" (PDF). Election Commission, Nepal. 26 July 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
11. प्रदेश १ को परिणाम पुस्तक (PDF) (in Nepali). Election Commission (Nepal).
12. प्रदेश २ को परिणाम पुस्तक (PDF) (in Nepali). Election Commission (Nepal).
13. प्रदेश ३ को परिणाम पुस्तक (PDF) (in Nepali). Election Commission (Nepal).
14. प्रदेश ४ को परिणाम पुस्तक (PDF) (in Nepali). Election Commission (Nepal).
15. प्रदेश ५ को परिणाम पुस्तक (PDF) (in Nepali). Election Commission (Nepal).
16. प्रदेश ६ को परिणाम पुस्तक (PDF) (in Nepali). Election Commission (Nepal).
17. प्रदेश ७ को परिणाम पुस्तक (PDF) (in Nepali). Election Commission (Nepal).
18. "Election Commission seeks clarification from Dahal, Rana". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
19. "पैसा बाँडेको आरोपमा एमाले जनकपुर अध्यक्ष सुरेन्द्र भण्डारी पक्राउ". ekantipur.com (in Nepali). Retrieved 2022-05-12.
20. "महासेठलाई कारबाही गर्न सरकार र ओलीसँग मुस्लिम आयोग अध्यक्षको माग". ekantipur.com (in Nepali). Retrieved 2022-05-12.
21. "Election Commission seeks clarification from Bhattarai". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
22. Times, Nepali. "Nepalis vote enthusiastically in local elections" . Retrieved 2022-05-26.
23. "Locals run away with ballot boxes in Rautahat". Khabarhub. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
24. Thakur, Madan. "Former police constable arrested for looting ballot box". My Republica. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
25. "Violent activities reported during elections". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
26. "Election postponed in 79 polling centres so far: EC". GorakhaPatra. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
27. "Budhiganga Rural Municipality's local level election fate left in limbo amid controversy and indecision". thehimalayantimes.com. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
28. "EC directs Home Ministry to hold re-election at Budhiganga Municipality". Khabarhub. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
29. "Cancelled on May 13 due to rigging, voting underway in a Bajura unit - OnlineKhabar English News". 2022-07-07. Retrieved 2022-07-12.