| Election Name: | 2022 Dharan municipal elections |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Party Colour: | yes |
| Previous Election: | 2017 Dharan municipal election |
| Previous Year: | 2019 |
| Next Election: | 2027 Dharan municipal elections |
| Next Year: | 2027 |
| Election Date: | 13 May 2022 |
| Seats For Election: | 102 seats to Dharan Sub-Metropolitan City Council |
| Majority Seats: | 52 |
| Candidate1: | Harka Raj Rai |
| Party1: | Independent politician |
| Popular Vote1: | 20,821 |
| Percentage1: | 39.8% |
| Candidate2: | Kishore Rai |
| Party2: | Nepali Congress |
| Popular Vote2: | 16,051 |
| Percentage2: | 30.7% |
| Image4: | Nepal Communist Party symbol.svg |
| Candidate4: | Manju Bhandari Subedi |
| Party4: | Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) |
| Popular Vote4: | 12,825 |
| Percentage4: | 24.5% |
| Image5: | Logo RPP, Nepal.png |
| Candidate5: | Naresh Kumar Shakya |
| Party5: | Rastriya Prajatantra Party |
| Popular Vote5: | 1,488 |
| Percentage5: | 2.8% |
| Mayor | |
| Posttitle: | Elected Mayor |
| Before Election: | Tilak Rai |
| Before Party: | Nepali Congress |
| After Election: | Harka Raj Rai |
| After Party: | Independent politician |
Municipal election for Dharan took place on 13 May 2022, with all 102 positions up for election across 20 wards.[1] [2] The electorate elected a mayor, a deputy mayor, 20 ward chairs and 80 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.[3] [4]
Independent candidate Harka Raj Rai was elected as the mayor of the sub-metropolitan city.[5]
Dharan was established in 1958 as a municipality. The sub-metropolitan was created in 2014 by incorporating neighboring village development committees into Dharan municipality.[6] 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.[7]
In the previous election, Tara Subba from the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) was elected as the mayor but after he died on 18 July 2018, Tilak Rai from the Nepali Congress was elected as mayor in a by-election in 2019.[8] [9]
| Party | Mayor candidate | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nepali Congress | Kishor Rai[10] | ||
| CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | Manju Bhandari | ||
| Independent | Harka Raj Rai | ||
| Date | News agency | Sample size | Harka Sampang | Sagar Thapa | Manju Bhandari | Others/Undecided | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 May 2022 | Setopati[11] | 100 | 36 | 22 | 18 | 24 | Hung |
| 36% | 22% | 18% | 24% |
|-! colspan="2" style="text-align:centre;" | Political Party! Ward Chairman! Ward Members|-| style="background-color:;" || style="text-align:left;" |CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist)| style="text-align:center;" | 10| style="text-align:center;" | 46|-| style="background-color:;" || style="text-align:left;" |Nepali Congress| style="text-align:center;" | 7| style="text-align:center;" | 30|-| style="background-color:;" || style="text-align:left;" |CPN (Maoist Centre)| style="text-align:center;" | 1| style="text-align:center;" | 4|-| style="background-color:;" || style="text-align:left;" |Rastriya Prajatantra Party| style="text-align:center;" | 1| style="text-align:center;" | 0|-| style="background-color:;" || style="text-align:left;" |Independent| style="text-align:center;" | 1| style="text-align:center;" | 0|-! colspan="2" style="text-align:right;" | Total! 20! 80|}
| Party | Mayor | Deputy Mayor | Ward Chairman | Ward Members | Total seats | Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||
| Communist Party of Nepal (UML) | 10 | 46 | 56 | Majority | ||||
| Nepali Congress | 7 | 30 | 37 | |||||
| CPN (Maoist Centre) | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | ||||
| Rastriya Prajatantra Party | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||||
| Total | 1 | 1 | 20 | 80 | 102 | 52 for Majority | ||