In five of the six metropolitan cities, mayoral candidates of the ruling alliance have maintained leads as of Tuesday afternoon, with a 32-year-old independent candidate creating quite a buzz in Kathmandu Metropolitan City, also the federal capital. CPN-UML candidates are trailing in all metropolitan cities.

Here is the latest update on the mayoral race in the six metropolitan cities of the country.

In Biratnagar, Nagesh Koirala of the Nepali Congress is leading with 9,882 votes, while CPN-UML’s Sagar Kumar Thapa is trailing with 7,630 votes.

In Birgunj, Rajesh Man Singh of the Janata Samajbadi Party is leading with 9,500 votes while Vijay Kumar Sarawagai of the UML trailing with 4,290 votes.

In Kathmandu, independent candidate Balendra Shah has stretched his lead by 5,999 votes. Shah has secured 12,877 votes while UML’s Keshav Sthapit has garnered 6,878 votes.

In Lalitpur, Nepali Congress’ Chiribabu Maharjan has maintained an lead with 8,534 votes. UML’s Hari Krishna Byanjnakar has secured 3,785 votes.

In Pokhara, Dhanraj Acharya of the CPN (Unified Socialist) is leading with 10,939 votes. His close competitor is UML’s Krishna Bahadur Thapa who has secured 9,405 votes.

In Bharatpur, the most talked about metropolitan city this local election, CPN (Maoist Centre)’s Renu Dahal is leading. She has secured 7,351 votes against CPN-UML’s Vijay Subedi who has garnered 7,028 votes.