In five of the six metropolitan cities, mayoral candidates of the ruling alliance have maintained leads as of Friday 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 25,312 votes, while CPN-UML’s Sagar Kumar Thapa is trailing with 18,835 votes.

In Birgunj, Rajesh Man Singh of the Janata Samajbadi Party is leading with 22,596 votes while Vijay Kumar Sarawagai of the UML trailing with 11,785 votes.

In Kathmandu, independent candidate Balendra Shah has stretched his lead by 13,570 votes. Shah has secured 28,882 votes while UML’s Keshav Sthapit has garnered 15,312 votes.

In Lalitpur, Nepali Congress’ Chiribabu Maharjan has maintained a lead with 21,311 votes. UML’s Hari Krishna Byanjnakar has secured 12,149 votes.

In Pokhara, Dhanraj Acharya of the CPN (Unified Socialist) is leading with 26,968 votes. His close competitor is UML’s Krishna Bahadur Thapa who has secured 23,698 votes.

In Bharatpur, the most talked about metropolitan city this local election, CPN (Maoist Centre)’s Renu Dahal is leading. She has secured 21,492 votes against CPN-UML’s Vijay Subedi who has garnered 18,270 votes.