As the vote counting of the by-elections conducted to elect 41 local representatives is about to be completed, the Nepali Congress, the country’s largest party, has won the most seats. Still, the party will be far from happy.

Nepali Congress candidates had, in 2022 local elections, won 29 of the 44 seats that had later gone vacant due to the deaths of the incumbents and other reasons. In the by-polls to fill these seats, the Congress is in line to win just 17 seats.

The Congress won the mayor of Kirtipur Municipality, and 16 ward chairs while it had won 29 posts in earlier elections.

In the recent by-elections, the Congress had already won the two posts of district coordinating committees in Kailali and Okhaldhunga unopposed as no one filed candidacy against them.

Retaining the mayor of Kirtipur has come as a big relief for the party.

Both the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre), the second and third largest parties in the federal parliament, respectively, have succeeded in adding to the number of their local representatives.

Of the vacant seats, each won seven in 2022. Compared to last time, while the UML added three local representatives, the Maoist Centre added two.

Congress General Secretary Bishwa Prakash Sharma, who led the party’s by-poll campaign, said the results were different this time as the party contested the by-elections without any alliance. In the previous local polls, it had formed alliances with the Maoist Centre and CPN (Unified Socialist), among other fringe parties.

“Although it seems that we lost some posts we had earlier won, the party members are in fact excited about the election results that we achieved with our own strength,” Sharma told the Post.

The by-elections were held for one municipal mayor, two rural municipality chairpersons, four vice-chairs, one deputy mayor, and 33 ward chairs. Among these, the Congress had earlier won the post of Mayor of Kirtipur Municipality, and deputy mayor of Nalgad Municipality of Jajarkot.

Likewise, it had won Gramthan Rural Municipality chairperson in Morang, Mahabu Rural Municipality chairperson in Dailekh, vice-chairperson of Gaurishankar Rural Municipality, Dolakha, and Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality in Bajura.

Meanwhile, Maoist Centre candidates won vice-chairs in Sarkegad Rural Municipality and Putha Uttarganga Rural Municipality.

The Congress couldn’t retain at least 10 posts the party earlier won.

The Maoists have now snatched away from the Congress Gramthan Rural Municipality in Morang and Nalgad deputy mayor in Jajarkot. Likewise, the UML has won Mahabu Rural Municipality and Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality.

The UML has managed to retain its seven ward chairpersons but in different local units, and add a chairperson and two vice-chairpersons of rural municipalities.

According to the Election Commission, UML candidate Jung Bahadur Shahi has won the post of chairman of Mahabu Rural Municipality in Dailekh.

Similarly, Maoist Centre’s Namo Narayan Majhi has won the post of chairman of Gramthan Rural Municipality in Morang.

Maoist Centre’s Devaka Lamichhane has been elected as deputy mayor of Nalgad Rural Municipality in Jajarkot.

Likewise, Sulochana Kumari Bhandari of the UML has won the post of Vice-Chairperson of Balmiki Khapar Rural Municipality in Bajura. Her nearest rival was Pultisara Shahi of the Congress. Bhandari was earlier defeated by Maina Devi Joshi of the Nepali Congress in the 2022 local elections.

The Maoist Centre did well in some places where local by-elections were held. Despite the Congress-UML alliance, the Maoist Centre won the post of vice-chair of Putha Uttarganga in Rukum (East).

The Maoist Centre’s candidate Narapura Budha won the post securing 3,627 votes to defeat Kesh Kumari Tulachan of the UML who was backed by the Congress. The UML candidate Tulachan got only 2,128 votes.

In the by-polls, the Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party (NMKP) candidate won the post of chairperson in ward 4 of Tilagupha Municipality in Kalikot. The party’s Khadgaraj Shahi won the post with 143 votes, defeating Naishoba Shahi of CPN (Maoist Centre), who garnered 115 votes. The post was earlier held by the Maoist Centre.

Besides Bhaktapur, the party also has a presence in places like Kalikot, Humla and Dailekh. The party also has ward chairpersons in some places of Dailekh.

“Our party played a big role in raising political awareness in places like Kalikot, Humla and Dailekh even during the Panchayat period,” Prem Suwal, the federal lawmaker from the party, told the Post.

Among the new parties that emerged in the November 2022 elections, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) won the post of chairperson of ward 16 of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC).

RSP’s Rojina Shrestha left the candidates of traditional parties behind. The post was earlier held by the Congress.

Despite the party’s poor performance in other parts of the country where the by-polls were conducted, Shrestha’s win in KMC-16 marks the party’s debut at the local level.

Shrestha secured 2,902 votes against UML’s Laxmi Ratna Tuladhar who garnered 2,220 votes. The Congress candidate Devendra Pathak managed to secure 2,214 votes in the ward.

The Maoist Centre had not fielded a candidate in ward 16 of KMC. Asked why the Congress candidate lost, the party’s vice president of Kathmandu unit, Santa Kumar Maharjan, said the ward was never a Congress stronghold.

“This was a ward dominated by the UML earlier as well. When all ward members were from the UML, Mukunda Risal was the only candidate to be elected from the Congress. He became the chairperson,” Maharjan said. “Risal’s victory could solely be attributed to his charismatic leadership.”

Except the RSP, other new political parties failed to win any seats. The Janamat Party, which has a strong presence in Madhesh Province and currently leads the Madhesh Province government, failed to show its presence at the local level by-polls.

In the by-polls held for the post of ward chairperson in seven wards in Madhesh, the Congress and the Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal led by Upendra Yadav won two posts each. The UML, the Maoist Centre and the CPN (Unified Socialist) one post each.

Professor of Political Science Krishna Khanal, says that aversion to political parties played a role in this by-election.

“You could say those who won in these by-elections achieved technical victories. Based on these by-polls, none of the parties can claim to have increased their internal strength,” Khanal said.