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 14,061 votes, while CPN-UML’s Sagar Kumar Thapa is trailing with 10,692 votes.

In Birgunj, Rajesh Man Singh of the Janata Samajbadi Party is leading with 11,995 votes while Vijay Kumar Sarawagi of the UML trailing with 5,635 votes.

In Kathmandu, independent candidate Balendra Shah has stretched his lead by 8,040 votes. Shah has secured 16,647 votes while UML’s Keshav Sthapit has garnered 8,607 votes.

In Lalitpur, Nepali Congress’ Chiribabu Maharjan has maintained a lead with 11,920 votes. UML’s Hari Krishna Byanjnakar has secured 5,570 votes.

In Pokhara, Dhanraj Acharya of the CPN (Unified Socialist) is leading with 15,288 votes. His close competitor is UML’s Krishna Bahadur Thapa who has secured 13,329 votes.

In Bharatpur, the most talked about metropolitan city this local election, CPN (Maoist Centre)’s Renu Dahal is leading. She has secured 9,970 votes against CPN-UML’s Vijay Subedi who has garnered 8,258 votes.