Nishanta Sharma, a 32-year-old former Maoist combatant, has been elected chairman of the Chishankhugadhi Rural Municipality in Okhaldhunga.

Having spent 16 years in politics, Sharma won the rural municipality chair for the CPN (Maoist Centre) with 1,906 votes, against 1,903 of CPN-UML candidate Bhim Bahadur Thapa Magar.

“My priority is to construct roads and drinking water projects and supply electricity in the villages. People have demanded physical infrastructure,” Sharma said after the results were announced on Saturday. He said he would consult with experts to prepare a master plan to develop Chishankhugadhi.