A municipal election for Kathmandu took place on 13 May 2022, with all 162 positions up for election across 32 wards. The electorate elected a mayor, a deputy mayor, 32 ward chairs and 128 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.
Background
Kathmandu was established as a municipality in 1919. After the formulation of the 1951 Municipality Act, the first municipal elections were held in Nepal and Janakman Shrestha became the first elected mayor of Kathmandu. The municipality was declared as a metropolitan city in 1995 by then mayor Prem Lal Singh. Keshav Sthapit was the first elected mayor of Kathmandu after it had been declared as a metropolitan city. 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.
In the previous election, Bidhya Sundar Shakya from CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) was elected mayor.
Candidates
CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) The incumbent mayor Bidhya Sundar Shakya, announced in February 2022 that he would want to run for re-election if the party wanted him to. But on April 24 the party announced that it would field former mayor Keshav Sthapit as its candidate. Sthapit was first elected mayor in 1997 and was appointed mayor again in 2005 by then King Gyanendra. He was later also appointed as the commissioner of Kathmandu Valley Development Authority by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, but was removed after only nine months. Sthapit was a member of the provincial assembly of Bagmati Province and previously served in the cabinet of Chief Minister Dormani Paudel but resigned to file his candidacy.
Sunita Dangol, a Newa heritage activist and former Miss Newa who had previously announced her intention to run as mayor as an independent was announced as the deputy mayor candidate from the party.
Nepali Congress The Nepali Congress, CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN (Unified Socialist), People's Socialist Party, Nepal and Rastriya Janamorcha announced that they would jointly contest the local elections in some local units in the country.
Sirjana Singh of Nepali Congress was announced as the candidate of the alliance on April 25. She is married to former deputy Prime Minister and MP Prakash Man Singh. She is also a former chairperson of Nepal Woman Association.
Rameshwar Shrestha from the CPN (Unified Socialist) was announced as the candidate of deputy mayor from the alliance.
Balendra Shah Rapper and structural engineer Balendra Shah announced his candidacy as an independent on 17 December 2021.
Other parties and candidates PartyMayor candidateNotesDeputy Mayor candidateNotesRastriya Prajatantra PartyMadan Das ShresthaActorBinita MagaiyaBibeksheel Sajha PartySamikchya BaskotaAdvocate and CEO of Baskota Group.Kirti TuladharJCI Nepal President 1999 & Past VP of JCI (2000)IndependentSuman SayamiSocial ActivistBidya Shrestha MaharjanSocial Activist & Teacher
Opinion polls DatePollsterSample sizeShahSthapitSinghShresthaSayamiBaskotaUndecidedLeadIndUMLCongressRPPIndBSP10 May 2022Setopati53026.2%24%19.2%7.4%4.9%3.8%14.5%2.2%
Exit polls DatePollsterSample size (Revealed)ShahSinghSthapitSayamiShresthaBaskotaUnrevealedLeadIndCongressUMLIndRPPBSP13 May 2022Setopati 1350 (66%)42%25%26%4%2.14%0.518%33%16%
Results
Mayoral election
Ward results
! colspan="2" style="text-align:centre;" | Party ! Chairperson ! Members |- | bgcolor="" | | style="text-align:left;" |Nepali Congress | style="text-align:center;" |19 | style="text-align:center;" |74 |- | bgcolor="" | | style="text-align:left;" |CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist) | style="text-align:center;" |12 | style="text-align:center;" |48 |- | bgcolor="" | | style="text-align:left;" |CPN (Unified Socialist) | style="text-align:center;" | 1 | style="text-align:center;" | 4 |- ! colspan="2" style="text-align:right;" | Total ! 32 ! 126
Summary of results by ward Ward #Ward ChairmanPartyWard OpenOpen 2FemaleFemale Dalit1Bharat Lal ShresthaUMLNCNCUMLNC2Rajendra Kumar ShresthaUMLUMLUMLUMLUML3Prem ThapaUMLUMLUMLUMLUML4Dinesh MaharjanUMLUMLUMLUMLUML5Birendra PrajapatiUMLNCUMLNCUML6Bhuwan LamaNCNCNCNCNC7Bimal Kumar HodaNCNCNCNCNC8Asaman SangatNCNCNCNCNC9Ramji BhandariNCUMLUMLUMLUML10Ram Kumar KCNCNCNCNCNC11Hira Lal TandukarNCNCNCNCNC12Bal Krishna MaharjanNCNCNCNCNC13 Dhurba Narayan ManandharUMLUMLUMLUMLUML14 Suman ShresthaNCNCUMLUMLNC15 Ishwor Man DangolUSUSUSUSUS16 Mukunda RijalNCUMLUMLUMLUML17 Nabin ManandharNCNCNCNCNC18Nhuchhe Kaji MaharjanUMLUMLUMLUMLUML19Rajesh Kumar ShresthaNCNCNCNCNC20Rajendra ManandharNCNCNCNCNC21Udaya Chudamani BajracharyaUMLUMLUMLUMLUML22Chini Kaji MaharjanUMLNCNCNCUML23Macha Raja MaharjanUMLNCNCUMLNC24Binod Kumar RajbhandariNCUMLNCNCVacant25Rajesh DangolNCNCNCNCVacant26Khyam Raj TiwariNCNCNCNCNC27Yogesh Kumar KhadgiNCNCNCNCUML28Bhai Ram Khadki PrakashNCNCNCNCNC29Kush DhakalNCNCNCNCNC30Dal Bahadur KarkiNCNCNCNCNC31Saroj DhakalUMLNCUMLUMLUML32Navraj ParajuliUMLUMLUMLUMLUML
Note: 4 candidates (1 from Nepali Congress and 3 from CPN-UML) for Ward Members were elected unopposed under Dalit woman reserved seats. 2 Ward Member seats reserved for Dalit women were left unfilled due to lack of candidates
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 elected five female members and three members from the Dalit or minority community to the municipal executive using single non-transferable vote.
Municipal Assembly composition PartyMembersNepali Congress93CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)61CPN (Unified Socialist)5Independent1Vacant2Total162
Results CategoryCandidatePartyVotesFemale MemberMina SunarNepali Congress99Mina Singh99Kanchana Nepali Harijan97Lalita Khadgi97Maiya Laxmi MaharjanCPN (Unified Socialist)99Sharmila PariyarCPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)61Sharada Subedi61Shobha Karki61Hira Devi Pokharel60Herashobha Dangol59Dalit/Minority MemberBinod AchhamiNepali Congress98Mahesh Nepali97Anita Karki DholiCPN (Maoist Centre)95Keshav BhujelCPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)61Chandrakala Sundas61Prem Pode Parajuli62
Municipal Executive composition PartyMembers+/–Nepali Congress25 10CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist)13 14CPN (Unified Socialist)2NewCPN (Maoist Centre)1 1Independent1 1Total420
See also Elections in Nepal 2022 Nepalese local elections 2022 Lalitpur municipal election 2017 Kathmandu municipal election 2022 Janakpur municipal election 2022 Bharatpur municipal election
References