# 2022 Kathmandu municipal election

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 the wife of 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

| Party | Mayor candidate | Notes | Deputy Mayor candidate | Notes |
| Rastriya Prajatantra Party | Madan Das Shrestha | Actor | Binita Magaiya | |
| Bibeksheel Sajha Party | Samikshya Baskota | Advocate and CEO of Baskota Group. | Kirti Tuladhar | Former Chairperson of JCI Nepal |
| Independent | Suman Sayami | Social Activist | Bidya Shrestha Maharjan | Social Activist & Teacher |

## Opinion polls

| Date | Pollster | Sample size | Shah | Sthapit | Singh | Shrestha | Sayami | Baskota | Undecided | Lead |
| Date | Pollster | Sample size | Ind | UML | Congress | RPP | Ind | BSP | Undecided | Lead |
| 10 May 2022 | Setopati | 530 | 26.2% | 24% | 19.2% | 7.4% | 4.9% | 3.8% | 14.5% | 2.2% |

## Exit polls

| Date | Pollster | Sample size (Revealed) | Shah | Singh | Sthapit | Sayami | Shrestha | Baskota | Unrevealed | Lead |
| Date | Pollster | Sample size (Revealed) | Ind | Congress | UML | Ind | RPP | BSP | Unrevealed | Lead |
| 13 May 2022 | Setopati | 1350 (66%) | 42% | 25% | 26% | 4% | 2.14% | 0.518% | 33% | 16% |

## Results
### Mayoral election

Mayoral elections result :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Independent | Balendra Shah | 61,767 | 38.6% | New |
| | Congress | Sirjana Singh | 38,341 | 24.0% | +1.1% |
| | CPN (UML) | Keshav Sthapit | 38,117 | 23.8% | −9.1% |
| | Independent | Suman Sayami | 13,770 | 8.6% | New |
| | RPP | Madan Das Shrestha | 5,770 | 3.6% | New |
| | Others | | 2,141 | 1.3% | |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 159,906 | 100.0% | |
| Rejected ballots | Rejected ballots | Rejected ballots | 31,280 | 16.36% | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 191,186 | 63.68% | −9.04% |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 300,242 | | +10.7% |
| | Independent gain from CPN (UML) | Independent gain from CPN (UML) | Swing | +23.9% | |
Deputy mayoral elections result :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | CPN (UML) | Sunita Dangol | 68,612 | 53.2% | New |
| | Unified Socialist | Rameshwar Shrestha | 23,806 | 18.5% | New |
| | Independent | Bidhya Shrestha (Maharjan) | 13,695 | 10.6% | New |
| | RPP | Binita Magaiya | 12,141 | 9.4% | −8.3% |
| | Independent | Benji Singh Maharjan | 6,555 | 5.1% | New |
| | Bibeksheel Sajha | Kirti Kansakar | 2,590 | 2.0% | New |
| | Others | | 1,576 | 1.2% | |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 128,975 | 100.0% | |
| Rejected ballots | Rejected ballots | Rejected ballots | 62,211 | 32.54% | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 191,186 | 63.68% | −9.04% |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 300,242 | | +10.7% |
| | CPN (UML) gain from Congress | CPN (UML) gain from Congress | Swing | +41.6% | |

### Ward results

Summary of Partywise Ward chairperson and Ward member seats won, 2022 :
| Party | Party | Chairperson | Members |
| | Nepali Congress | 19 | 74 |
| | CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist) | 12 | 48 |
| | CPN (Unified Socialist) | 1 | 4 |
| Total | Total | 32 | 126 |

#### Summary of results by ward

| Ward # | Ward Chairman | Ward Chairman | Party | Ward | Ward | Ward | Ward | Ward | Ward | Ward | Ward |
| Ward # | Ward Chairman | Ward Chairman | Party | Open | Open | Open 2 | Open 2 | Female | Female | Female Dalit | Female Dalit |
| 1 | | Bharat Lal Shrestha | UML | | NC | | NC | | UML | | NC |
| 2 | | Rajendra Kumar Shrestha | UML | | UML | | UML | | UML | | UML |
| 3 | | Prem Thapa | UML | | UML | | UML | | UML | | UML |
| 4 | | Dinesh Maharjan | UML | | UML | | UML | | UML | | UML |
| 5 | | Birendra Prajapati | UML | | NC | | UML | | NC | | UML |
| 6 | | Bhuwan Lama | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC |
| 7 | | Bimal Kumar Hoda | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC |
| 8 | | Asaman Sangat | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC |
| 9 | | Ramji Bhandari | NC | | UML | | UML | | UML | | UML |
| 10 | | Ram Kumar KC | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC |
| 11 | | Hira Lal Tandukar | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC |
| 12 | | Bal Krishna Maharjan | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC |
| 13 | | Dhurba Narayan Manandhar | UML | | UML | | UML | | UML | | UML |
| 14 | | Suman Shrestha | NC | | NC | | UML | | UML | | NC |
| 15 | | Ishwor Man Dangol | US | | US | | US | | US | | US |
| 16 | | Mukunda Rijal | NC | | UML | | UML | | UML | | UML |
| 17 | | Nabin Manandhar | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC |
| 18 | | Nhuchhe Kaji Maharjan | UML | | UML | | UML | | UML | | UML |
| 19 | | Rajesh Kumar Shrestha | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC |
| 20 | | Rajendra Manandhar | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC |
| 21 | | Udaya Chudamani Bajracharya | UML | | UML | | UML | | UML | | UML |
| 22 | | Chini Kaji Maharjan | UML | | NC | | NC | | NC | | UML |
| 23 | | Macha Raja Maharjan | UML | | NC | | NC | | UML | | NC |
| 24 | | Binod Kumar Rajbhandari | NC | | UML | | NC | | NC | Vacant | Vacant |
| 25 | | Rajesh Dangol | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC | Vacant | Vacant |
| 26 | | Khyam Raj Tiwari | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC |
| 27 | | Yogesh Kumar Khadgi | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC | | UML |
| 28 | | Bhai Ram Khadki Prakash | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC |
| 29 | | Kush Dhakal | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC |
| 30 | | Dal Bahadur Karki | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC | | NC |
| 31 | | Saroj Dhakal | UML | | NC | | UML | | UML | | UML |
| 32 | | Navraj Parajuli | UML | | UML | | UML | | UML | | UML |
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

| Party | Party | Members |
| | Nepali Congress | 93 |
| | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | 61 |
| | CPN (Unified Socialist) | 5 |
| | Independent | 1 |
| | Vacant | 2 |
| Total | Total | 162 |

### Results

| Category | Candidate | Party | Votes |
| Female Member | Mina Sunar | Nepali Congress | 99 |
| Female Member | Mina Singh | Nepali Congress | 99 |
| Female Member | Kanchana Nepali Harijan | Nepali Congress | 97 |
| Female Member | Lalita Khadgi | Nepali Congress | 97 |
| Female Member | Maiya Laxmi Maharjan | CPN (Unified Socialist) | 99 |
| Female Member | Sharmila Pariyar | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | 61 |
| Female Member | Sharada Subedi | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | 61 |
| Female Member | Shobha Karki | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | 61 |
| Female Member | Hira Devi Pokharel | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | 60 |
| Female Member | Herashobha Dangol | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | 59 |
| Dalit/Minority Member | Binod Achhami | Nepali Congress | 98 |
| Dalit/Minority Member | Mahesh Nepali | Nepali Congress | 97 |
| Dalit/Minority Member | Anita Karki Dholi | CPN (Maoist Centre) | 95 |
| Dalit/Minority Member | Keshav Bhujel | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | 61 |
| Dalit/Minority Member | Chandrakala Sundas | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | 61 |
| Dalit/Minority Member | Prem Pode Parajuli | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | 62 |

### Municipal Executive composition

| Party | Party | Members | +/– |
| | Nepali Congress | 25 | 10 |
| | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | 13 | 14 |
| | CPN (Unified Socialist) | 2 | New |
| | CPN (Maoist Centre) | 1 | 1 |
| | Independent | 1 | 1 |
| Total | Total | 42 | 0 |