2022 Bharatpur municipal election
# 2022 Bharatpur municipal election

Municipal election for Bharatpur took place on 13 May 2022, with all 147 positions up for election across 29 wards. The electorate elected a mayor, a deputy mayor, 29 ward chairs and 116 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.

Renu Dahal of CPN (Maoist Centre) was re-elected as mayor winning 48.3% of the votes and Nepali Congress gained control of the council.

## Background

Bharatpur was established in 1978 as a municipality. The municipality was upgraded to a sub-metropolitan city in 2014 after incorporating neighboring village development committees into Bharatpur municipality. The metropolitan city was created in 2017 after incorporating Narayani municipality, Chitraban municipality and Kalibas VDC into Bharatpur sub-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, Renu Dahal from CPN (Maoist Centre) was elected as the first mayor of the metropolitan city.

## Candidates

### Jagannath Paudel

A veteran Nepali Congress politician and advocate Paudel is an Independent mayoral candidate. Behind Poudel is a team of former presidents of Chitwan Congress Krishnalal Sapkota and Tikaram Neupane, former district secretary Anand Raj Raut, former MP Bhim Bahadur Shrestha, leader Meena Kharel, former president of Tarun Dal Shambhu Aryal and others. Paudel has previously served as deputy mayor of Bharatpur winning election in 2054 BS. He's even served as member of National Assembly. Currently, Election Commission has given him pineapple election symbol.

Paudel is one the founder of community campus, Balkumari Campus of Bharatpur. Similarly, Paudel has been involving in various social welfare activities.

He's been a threat to both CPN (Maoist Centre) and CPN (UML) candidate while Nepali Congress had obtained the highest wardwise vote in previous elections.

### Renu Dahal

Dahal, a former mayor of Bharatpur is running in the election even this time from CPN (Maoist Centre). Dahal is the daughter of Pushpa Kamal Dahal. Dahal had won 2017 election with the help of Nepali Congress.

### Bijay Subedi

Subedi, a former member of Provincial Assembly of Bagmati Province is the mayoral candidate from CPN (UML). He was put forward by Devi Gyawali who had lost previous elections by a very small margin.

### List of Mayor and deputy mayor candidates

| Party | Mayor candidate | Deputy Mayor candidate |
| - | - | - |
| Nepali Congress | | Chitrasen Adhikari |
| CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | Bijay Subedi | |
| CPN (Maoist Centre) | Renu Dahal | |
| Rastriya Prajatantra Party | | Himali Gurung |
| Dissident Nepali Congress | Jagannath Paudel | |

## Surveys and opinion polls

| Date | News agency | Sample size | Renu Dahal | Bijay Subedi | Jagannath Paudel | Undecided | Result |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 8 May 2022 | Setopati | 242 | 66 | 57 | 23 | 97 | Hung |
| 8 May 2022 | Setopati | 242 | 27% | 23% | 9% | 41% | Hung |

National level news agency, Setopati conducted opinion poll among 242 people of Bharatpur of different areas which gave a conclusion that majority Nepali Congress voters were undecided. Some of them were campaigning for Renu Dahal but we're determined to vote Jagannath Paudel during vote to be safe from party expel. Few people who had voted Renu Dahal last time were thinking to vote Jagannath this time. Few voters criticized Puspa Kamal Dahal's statement of accident in country again if his daughter Renu lost the election.

Similarly, all the voters of CPN (UML)-RPP alliance were determined to vote their own candidate. This brought a conclusion that even CPN (UML) could vote Jagannath Paudel in contrition that they were sure of themself not to win. Similarly, there was effect in CPN (UML) vote after party split under leadership of Madhav Nepal.

## Exit polls

| Date | Pollster | Dahal | Subedi | Paudel | Others | Lead |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Date | Pollster | Maoist | UML | Ind | Others | Lead |
| 13 May 2022 | Facts Nepal | 41.4% | 29.9% | 19.8% | 8.9% | 11.5% |

## Results

### Mayoral election

Mayoral elections result :

| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Maoist Centre | Renu Dahal | 52,028 | 48.3% | +2.8% |
| | CPN (UML) | Bijay Subedi | 39,582 | 36.8% | -8.5% |
| | Independent | Jagannath Paudel | 14,728 | 13.7% | New |
| | Others | | 1,311 | 1.2% | |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 107,649 | 100.0% | |
| Rejected ballots | Rejected ballots | Rejected ballots | 20,190 | | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 127,839 | | |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 185,752 | | |
| | Maoist Centre hold | Maoist Centre hold | Maoist Centre hold | Maoist Centre hold | Maoist Centre hold |

Deputy mayoral elections result :

| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| | Nepali Congress | Chitrasen Adhikari | 52,803 | 62.2% | +12.6% |
| | RPP | Himala Gurung | 30,611 | 36.1% | +28.5% |
| | Others | | 1,471 | 1.7% | |
| Total valid votes | Total valid votes | Total valid votes | 84,885 | 100.0% | |
| Rejected ballots | Rejected ballots | Rejected ballots | 42,954 | | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 127,839 | | |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 185,752 | | |
| | Nepali Congress hold | Nepali Congress hold | Nepali Congress hold | Nepali Congress hold | Nepali Congress hold |

## Ward results

Summary of Partywise Ward chairman and Ward member seats won, 2022 :

| Party | Party | Chairman | Members |
| - | - | - | - |
| | Nepali Congress | 16 | 58 |
| | CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist) | 6 | 46 |
| | CPN (Maoist Centre) | 3 | 6 |
| | CPN (Unified Socialist) | 3 | 2 |
| | Rastriya Prajatantra Party | 0 | 4 |
| | Independent | 1 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 29 | 116 |

### Summary of ward results

| Ward No. | Ward Chair | Ward Chair | Ward Members | Ward Members | Ward Members | Ward Members |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Ward No. | Ward Chair | Ward Chair | Open | Open 2 | Female | Female Dalit |
| 1 | | Keshav Maharjan | | | | |
| 2 | | Manoj Ranabhat | | | | |
| 3 | | Bikas Thapa | | | | |
| 4 | | Arpan Pokharel | | | | |
| 5 | | Yuddha Prasad Shrestha | | | | |
| 6 | | Krishna Lal Shrestha | | | | |
| 7 | | Rajendra Mani Kafle | | | | |
| 8 | | Jeevan Nath Kadel | | | | |
| 9 | | Yam Lal Kadel | | | | |
| 10 | | Parmeshwar Khanal | | | | |
| 11 | | Kamal Bahadur Malla | | | | |
| 12 | | Lekh Raj Pant | | | | |
| 13 | | Prakash Dawadi | | | | |
| 14 | | Rajendra Sakhi | | | | |
| 15 | | Shree Krishna Devkota | | | | |
| 16 | | Amrit Raj Hamal | | | | |
| 17 | | Lalit Man Tamang | | | | |
| 18 | | Babu Ram Rana Magar | | | | |
| 19 | | Prakash Tamang | | | | |
| 20 | | Mukti Prasad Ghale | | | | |
| 21 | | Krishna Kumar Gurung | | | | |
| 22 | | Bishnu Raj Mahato | | | | |
| 23 | | Dipak Dawadi | | | | |
| 24 | | Ram Bahadur Godar | | | | |
| 25 | | Chhabilal Sapkota | | | | |
| 26 | | Gyan Prasad Khanal | | | | |
| 27 | | Ram Bahadur Bhandari | | | | |
| 28 | | Danda Pani Rijal | | | | |
| 29 | | Surya Bahadur Gurung | | | | |

## 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.

### Municipal Assembly composition

| Party | Party | Members |
| - | - | - |
| | Nepali Congress | 75 |
| | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | 52 |
| | CPN (Maoist Centre) | 10 |
| | CPN (Unified Socialist) | 5 |
| | Rastriya Prajatantra Party | 4 |
| | Independent | 1 |
| Total | Total | 147 |

### Results

| Category | Candidate | Party | Votes |
| - | - | - | - |
| Female Member | Sirjana Adhikari | Nepali Congress | 91 |
| Female Member | Sukmaya B.K. | Nepali Congress | 89 |
| Female Member | Sharada Pokharel | Nepali Congress | 87 |
| Female Member | Narbada Sapkota | Nepali Congress | 86 |
| Female Member | Bina Nepali | CPN (Maoist Centre) | 86 |
| Dalit/Minority Member | Gopal Darai | Nepali Congress | 97 |
| Dalit/Minority Member | Kopila Uparkoti | CPN (Unified Socialist) | 92 |
| Dalit/Minority Member | Bishnu Bahadur Bhujel | CPN (Maoist Centre) | 86 |

### Municipal Executive composition

| Party | Party | Members |
| - | - | - |
| | Nepali Congress | 22 |
| | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | 6 |
| | CPN (Maoist Centre) | 6 |
| | CPN (Unified Socialist) | 4 |
| | Independent | 1 |
| Total | Total | 39 |
