Renu Dahal of CPN (Maoist Center) has been re-elected mayor of Bharatpur Metropolitan City in Chitwan.

Dahal defeated CPN-UML candidate Bijay Subedi by more than 12,000 votes to reclaim the mayoral post.

Dahal received 52,030 votes while Subedi garnered 39,581 votes.

Meanwhile, Chitrasen Adhikari of the Nepali Congress has been elected as the deputy mayor.

Adhikari received 52,803 votes while his closest rival Himala Gurung garnered 30,612 votes.

Dahal and Adhikari were fielded as mayoral and deputy mayoral candidates as per an understanding among ruling coalition partners. However, Congress district leader Jagannath Poudel defied party orders and filed his candidacy.

Poudel could secure only 14,728 votes.

The mayor-elect Dahal is the daughter of Maoist Centre chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

Bharatpur Metropolitan City is in Chitwan district of Bagmati Province. There were 185,752 eligible voters for the local elections, according to the Election Commission. There are 29 wards in the metropolitan city with the population of 369,377.