2017 Kathmandu municipal election

Municipal election for Kathmandu, capital of Nepal was held on May 14, 2017, for the position of Mayor, a Deputy Mayor, 32 Ward Chairmen and Ward Members. All positions are for a period of 5 years.[1] A secondary election is to be held for municipal executive which will elect 5 women from the elected ward members and 3 members who must be from the Dalit and minority community. The electorate for this election will the 159 members chosen direct election.[2]

2017 Kathmandu municipal elections
14 May 2017
162 seats to Kathmandu Metropolitan City Council
82 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Party CPN (UML) Nepali Congress RPP
Seats won 93 65 1
Percentage 57.4% 40.1% 0.6%
Council control before election

RPP
Rajram Shrestha
before Mayor

 Council control after election

CPN (UML)
Bidya Sundar Shakya
Elected Mayor

party colour of winning ward chairman

Background

Elections were last held in 2006 and since then the city has been without an elected executive. With the passing of a new constitution, a commission was formed to restructure the existing local levels into more powerful and autonomous local bodies. The city limits of Kathmandu remained unchanged during this restructuring but the number of wards was decreased from 35 to 32. Electors in each ward will elect a ward chairman and 4 ward members. Out of 4 ward members, 2 must be female and one of the 2 females must belong to the Dalit community.

Issues
  • Pollution
  • Transport Infrastructure
  • Urban Planning & Development
  • Earthquake Reconstruction

Candidates for Mayoral Election

Bidya Sundar Shakya

Shakya is a former ward chairman and will be supported by Rastriya Prajatantra Party in exchange for support to the Deputy-mayor candidate Rajaram Shrestha.[3] Shakya is the current secretary of CPN-UML's Kathmandu District Committee. He won the ward chairperson post in then Ward No. 21 in 1992 and 1997 local elections. Remarks to his work ethics, He is believed to be one of the most corrupted politician. He have also been widely criticized for his disregards to health care workers during covid and one of the laziest mayor assigned in the history of Kathmandu. After his term ended, the citizens of Nepal united to chant the change of "Never Again".[4]

Sarbottam Dangol

Sarbottam Dangol is a former student leader who was detained for two years without charge or trial in 1985, including two months of incommunicado detention.[5] He took part in Constituent Assembly Election, 2008 as a candidate from Kathmandu Constituency no. 8 and became third with 6,573 votes.[6]

Kishor Thapa

Thapa is a former civil servant who retired from the post of Secretary. He is currently standing as an independent candidate but is associated with Sajha Party Nepal founded by former BBC reporter Rabindra Mishra.

Ranju Neupane (Ranju Darsana)

Neupane is a central committee member and media coordinator of Bibeksheel Nepali party. She was elected as central member by first general convention of the party in late 2015.[7]

Mayoral Results
Summary of Kathmandu mayoral election, 2017
Party Candidate Votes %
CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) Bidya Sundar Shakya 64,913 32.91
Nepali Congress Raju Raj Joshi[8] 45,269 22.95
Bibeksheel Nepali Ranju Darshana[9] 23,439 11.88
Independent Kishore Thapa[10] 18,496 9.38
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) Sarbottam Dangol[11] 7,906 4.01
Naya Shakti Pabitra Bajracharya 6,050 3.07
Others 1,213 0.62
Invalid/blank votes29,94115.18
Total197,227100
Registered voters/turnout271,22172.72
Summary of Kathmandu deputy-mayoral election, 2017
Party Candidate Votes %
Nepali Congress Hari Prabha Khadgi 58,952 29.89
Rastriya Prajatantra Party Raja Ram Shrestha 34,854 17.67
Independent Nirupama Yadav 11,533 5.85
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) Sushila Kumari Poudel 10,448 5.30
Naya Shakti Sabina Aryal (Dawadi) 3,493 1.77
Others 1,483 0.75
Invalid/blank votes76,46438.77
Total197,227100
Registered voters/turnout271,22172.72

Ward Results
Summary of Partywise Ward chairman and Ward member seats won, 2017
Party Chairman Members
CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) 18 74
Nepali Congress 14 50
Rastriya Prajatantra Party 0 1
Total 32 125

3 candidates (2 from Nepali Congress and 1 from CPN-UML) for Ward Members were elected unopposed under Dalit woman reserved seats. 3 Ward Member seats reserved for Dalit women were left unfilled due to lack of candidates.

Results by ward
Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
Ward Chairman
Ward Member
Ward Member
Female Member
Female Dalit Member
Source: Election Commission

See also

References
  1. Article 215(6) of the Constitution of Nepal (September 20, 2015)
  2. "यसरी चुनिँदै छन् स्थानीय प्रतिनिधि, कार्यपालिकाभन्दा व्यवस्थापिका ठूलो". Setopati. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  3. "UML to field Bidya Sundar Shakya for Kathmandu Mayor". Nepali Reporter. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  4. "Bidya Sundar Shakya to contest for Kathmandu Mayor from UML with RPP support". Onlinekhabar. Archived from the original on 6 May 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  5. Dangol, Sarbottam (March 1987). The other side. Amnesty International. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  6. "Ca Election report". Election Commission of Nepal.
  7. "Bibeksheel to field Ranju Darshana for Kathmandu mayor". My Republica Daily. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
  8. "काठमाडौंको मेयरमा कांग्रेसका राजुराज जोशीको उम्मेदवारी". Onlinekhabar. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  9. "२१ वर्षीया रन्जु विवेकशीलबाट काठमाडौं मेयरकी उम्मेदवार". Setopati. Archived from the original on 19 April 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  10. THT Online (14 April 2017). "Sajha Party fields ex-secy Kishore Thapa as KMC mayor candidate". The Himalayan Times. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  11. "CPN-Maoist Centre to field Sarbottam Dangol for Kathmandu Mayor". Onlinekhabar English. Archived from the original on 4 May 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
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