2017 Rajbiraj municipal election

2017 Rajbiraj municipal elections

18 September 2017[1]

85 seats to Rajbiraj Municipal City Council
43 seats needed for a majority
Turnout72.85%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Party RJPN Forum Nepal Maoist Centre
Seats won 29 23 12
Percentage 35.36% 28.04% 14.63%

Mayor before election

Jagarnath Das
Independent

Elected Mayor

Shambhu Prasad Yadav
RJPN

The 2017 Municipal election for Rajbiraj was held on 18 September 2017, to elect a mayor, a deputy mayor, sixteen ward chairperson and ward members. All positions were elected for a period of five years.[2] A secondary election was held for the municipal executives which elected five women from the elected ward members and three members from the Dalit and minority community. The electorate for this election was for the 82 members chosen by direct election.[3] Rastriya Janata Party Nepal mayoral candidate Shambhu Prasad Yadav was elected as a Mayor of Rajbiraj by securing 4,774 votes.[4][5]

Background

The last municipal elections were held in 53 municipalities on 8 February 2006[6] under regime of King Gyanendra but were boycotted by the major political parties and saw low voter turnout.[7]Later, the 2006 municipal election was nullified and declared illegitimate by the political parties and other states.[8][9]Therefore, the last local elections was held in 1997.[10][11] Since then, the municipality has been without an elected executive. With the passing of a new constitution in 2015, a commission was formed to restructure the existing local levels into more powerful and autonomous local bodies. The city limits of Rajbiraj were changed during this restructuring and the number of wards was increased from 10 to 16. Electors in each ward will elect a ward chairperson 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.[12]

Voters

Election Commission of Nepal is the responsible body to update and publish the final electoral rolls before the election in Nepal.[13] The election commission had published the final voter list for the local level election on 20 August, 2017. There is a total of 32,035 registered voters who can cast their vote in Rajbiraj municipal election.[14] The electoral details for the 2017 Rajbiraj municipal election:

Men Women Third gender Total
15028 17005 2 32035

Election schedule

On 5 September 2017, the Election commission of Nepal announced the election schedule for the local election.

S.N. Activities Date
1 Candidate nomination registration 2017 September 06
2 Publication of nominated candidate list 2017 September 06
3 Complaining against a candidate 2017 September 07
4 Scrutiny of nomination 2017 September 07-08
5 Last Date for Withdrawal of nomination 2017 September 08
6 Publication of final candidate list 2017 September 08
7 Provide election symbols to candidates 2017 September 09
8 Election day 2017 September 18
Date of Counting of Votes Immediately after completion of election
Source: Election Commission of Nepal[14]

Issues

  • Urban Planning & Development
  • Sanitation
  • Women Safety[15]

Candidates

Mayor Candidates

Shambhu Prasad Yadav

Shambhu Prasad Yadav, a builder and politician is contesting for the Mayoral post in local level elections from Rastriya Janata Party Nepal.[16]

Bhimraj Yadav

Bhimraj Yadav is one of the popular builder, social activist and politician from Rajbiraj, is the candidate from Federal Socialist Forum, Nepal[16]

Anish Ansari

Anish Ansari, former state minister and mayor is the candidate from CPN-MC.[17]

Sailesh Chaudhary

Sailesh Kumar Chaudhary is former mayor of Rajbiraj Municipality is the candidate from Nepal Loktantrik Forum.[17]

Voters turnout

The Election commission of Nepal has scheduled the polling time from early 7:00 am NST to 17:00 pm NST on 18 September 2017.[18] There are total 27 polling stations and 46 voting booths in Rajbiraj municipal election.[14]

Results

Mayoral election

Mayoral elections result
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
RJPN Shambhu Prasad Yadav 4,774 23.88% New
Forum Nepal Bhimraj Yadav 4,759 23.81% New
Maoist Centre Anish Ansari 3,316 16.59% New
Nepal Loktantrik Forum Sailesh Kumar Chaudhary 2,507 12.54% New
Congress Dhruva Prasad Dev 2,110 10.56% New
CPN (UML) Sukhram Yadav 2,027 10.14% New
Rastriya Prajatantra Party Sailendra Kumar Sah 179 0.90% New
NSP Mina Thakur 151 0.76% New
RPP Amit Kumar Yadav 78 0.39% New
Others 88 0.44%
Total votes 19,989 100.0%
RJPN hold

Deputy-Mayoral election

Deputy mayoral elections result
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
RJPN Sadhana Jha 5,195 27.36% New
Forum Nepal Kiran Kumari Sah 4,269 22.48% New
CPN (UML) Mamta Kumari Chaudhary 2,912 15.34% New
Maoist Centre Sumitra Kumari Yadav 2,704 14.24% New
Congress Sushila Kumari Yadav 2,072 10.91% New
Nepal Loktantrik Forum Pabani Devi Khang 1,458 7.68% New
NSP Anant Lal Sah 157 0.83% New
Rastriya Prajatantra Party Laxmi Chaurasiya 135 0.71% New
RPP Mandira Pariyar 87 0.46% New
Total votes 18,989 100.0%
RJPN hold

Ward results

Summary of Partywise Ward chairman and Ward member seats won, 2017
Party Chairman Members
Rastriya Janata Party Nepal 5 22
Federal Socialist Forum, Nepal 4 19
CPN (MC) 4 8
Nepali Congress 1 9
CPN (UML) 0 3
Nepal Loktantrik Forum 0 3
Independent politician 2 0
Total 16 64

Ward wise elected chairman details

No. Ward No. Ward Chairman Political Party
1. Ward No. 1 Chandra Shekhar Chaudhary Rastriya Janata Party Nepal
2. Ward No. 2 Arun Kumar Yadav Federal Socialist Forum, Nepal
3. Ward No. 3 Sudarshan Prasad Singh Independent politician
4. Ward No. 4 Akhtar Ali Miya CPN (Maoist Center)
5. Ward No. 5 Samir Kumar Jha Nepali Congress
6. Ward No. 6 Prem Kumar Yadav CPN (Maoist Center)
7. Ward No. 7 Mangi Lal Nai Independent politician
8. Ward No. 8 Jay Narayan Mandal CPN (Maoist Center)
9. Ward No. 9 Shambhu Prasad Yadav Rastriya Janata Party Nepal
10. Ward No. 10 Sushil Kumar Das Rastriya Janata Party Nepal
11. Ward No. 11 Sanjay Kumar Yadav CPN (Maoist Center)
12. Ward No. 12 Harihar Yadav Federal Socialist Forum, Nepal
13. Ward No. 13 Rajendra Prasad Yadav Federal Socialist Forum, Nepal
14. Ward No. 14 Shobha Lal Mandal Rastriya Janata Party Nepal
15. Ward No. 15 Ram Prasad Yadav Federal Socialist Forum, Nepal
16. Ward No. 16 Buchai Das Rastriya Janata Party Nepal

See also

References

  1. ^ "Over 5,000 poll candidates in Saptari district". www.myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com. August 8, 2024. Retrieved 2025-09-20.
  2. ^ Article 215(6), Constitution of Nepal (in Nepali), September 20, 2015
  3. ^ "Local election phase III: Leaders from province 2 vote". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2025-09-20.
  4. ^ "RJPN candidate clinches mayor post in Rajbiraj Municipality by 15 votes". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2025-09-20.
  5. ^ Sureis (September 28, 2017). "RJP-N candidate elected mayor of Rajbiraj Municipality". The Himalayan Times. Retrieved 2025-09-20.
  6. ^ "Clashes overshadow Nepal vote". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2025-09-20.
  7. ^ "Nepal Assessment 2006". South Asian Terrorism Portal. Institute for conflict management. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  8. ^ "First Elections in Nepal in 7 Years Turn Violent (Published 2006)". February 9, 2006. Retrieved 2025-09-20.
  9. ^ Reeves, Philip; Montagne, Renee (February 8, 2006). "Nepalese Parties Boycott Municipal Election". WHQR. Retrieved 2025-09-20.
  10. ^ "Nepal Holds Phase One of First Local Elections in 20 Years". IFES - The International Foundation for Electoral Systems. May 17, 2017. Retrieved 2025-09-20.
  11. ^ "Nepal votes in first local elections in 20 years". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2022-05-07.
  12. ^ "Dalit representation to be higher in proportion of their population". The Kathmandu Post. Retrieved 2022-05-07.
  13. ^ "Over 1 million new voters registered". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2025-09-20.
  14. ^ a b c "Election Commission Nepal" (PDF). election.gov.np (pdf). Retrieved 2025-09-20.
  15. ^ "राजबिराजको मेयरमा 'पूर्वएमाले' र 'नयाँ एमाले' भिड्दै". Online Khabar (in Nepali). Retrieved 2025-09-20.
  16. ^ a b "Leaders in Saptari switching parties to secure candidacy". GorakhaPatra. Archived from the original on 2022-08-29. Retrieved 2025-09-20.
  17. ^ a b "राजविराज नगरपालिकामा मेयरका उम्मेदवार पूर्वमन्त्री" (in Nepali). Retrieved 2025-09-20.
  18. ^ "Nepal local polls final phase: Voting underway peacefully in Province 2 - OnlineKhabar English News". September 18, 2017. Retrieved 2025-09-20.