Jung Bahadur Shahi of the CPN-UML has been elected chair of Mahabu Rural Municipality, Surkhet, securing 3,127 votes in the local level by-elections held on Sunday.

According to the Office of the Chief Returning Officer, Shahi defeated his closest rival, Jhalak Bhandari of the Nepali Congress, who received 2,675 votes.

Jung Bahadur Baral of the CPN (Maoist Centre) obtained 842 votes, while Rastriya Swatantra Party’s Prakash Kumar Budha received 112 votes. 

This rural municipality was previously won by the Nepali Congress. The newly elected chair, Shahi, was also elected in 2017 as the UML candidate.