2079 (2022) Local Election Results: Winning Mayors and Chairs by Party

The 2079 BS local elections were held across Nepal on 13 May 2022 (30 Baisakh 2079 in the Bikram Sambat calendar) in a single phase covering all 753 local levels. They were the second nationwide local polls held under the 2015 Constitution, following the inaugural local elections of 2017, and they renewed the elected leadership of Nepal's third tier of government for a fresh five-year term.

Voters chose the head and deputy head of each local unit, ward chairpersons, and ward members at the same time. In the six metropolitan cities, eleven sub-metropolitan cities and 276 municipalities the head is titled mayor and the deputy is deputy mayor, while in the 460 rural municipalities the head is the chairperson and the deputy is the vice-chairperson. In total the polls elected 753 local heads and 753 deputies, alongside thousands of ward-level representatives.

According to the Election Commission of Nepal, the elections returned 35,097 representatives across all categories. About 17.7 million voters were registered and turnout was roughly 71 percent, with 79 political parties contesting nationwide. This article records the headline party results and notable winners as a dated snapshot of the 2079 term; it does not track later by-elections, defections or resignations.

The most-watched figure in any local election is the number of local-level heads (mayors and chairpersons) each party wins, because these executives lead local governments and budgets. In 2079 the Nepali Congress emerged as the single largest party by this measure, ahead of the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and the CPN (Maoist Centre). Two broad alliances competed: a five-party democratic-left coalition led by the Nepali Congress, and a four-party alliance led by the CPN-UML.

The party-wise tally of winning heads (mayors plus chairpersons combined) is set out below. These totals are the durable, settled outcome of the 2079 vote as reported by the Election Commission of Nepal and cross-checked against national results portals.

A defining story of 2079 was the success of independent candidates in flagship urban centres, where voters bypassed the established parties. The most prominent was Balendra (Balen) Shah, a rapper and structural engineer who won the mayoralty of Kathmandu Metropolitan City as an independent, defeating the candidates of the major parties. In Kathmandu the deputy mayor's post went to Sunita Dangol of the CPN-UML, producing a split executive.

Independents also captured several sub-metropolitan cities. Harka Sampang (also known as Harka Raj Rai) won the mayoralty of Dharan Sub-metropolitan City, Gopal Hamal won Dhangadhi Sub-metropolitan City, and Manoj Kumar Sah won Janakpur Sub-metropolitan City. Across all 753 units, independents took 13 heads, a notable result given the dominance of party machines in Nepali local politics.

These wins were widely read as a protest against established-party performance and as a sign of changing urban voter behaviour, themes that carried into the federal and provincial elections held later in 2079 on 20 November 2022.

Beyond the national totals, the 2079 results form a layer attached to each individual local-level page on this site. For every metropolitan city, sub-metropolitan city, municipality and rural municipality, the corresponding page names the head elected in 2022 (mayor or chairperson) and the deputy (deputy mayor or vice-chairperson), together with the winning party for each.

Because Nepal's local executive splits the two top posts between separate ballots, it is common for the head and the deputy to come from different parties, as happened in Kathmandu. Recording both, plus party affiliation, gives an accurate picture of the political balance inside each local government during the 2079 term.

All entries are a fixed snapshot tied to the 2079 (2022–2027) term as certified by the Election Commission. They are not updated for subsequent vacancies, removals or party switches; for the current officeholder of any unit, consult the latest Election Commission and local-government records.

The 2079 local elections were the second exercise of Nepal's decentralised federal system established by the 2015 Constitution, which devolves substantial revenue, planning and service-delivery powers to local governments. Holding all 753 units to the polls on a single day was a major logistical undertaking for the Election Commission of Nepal.

The outcome reaffirmed the Nepali Congress as the leading force at the local tier and confirmed a competitive three-party landscape with the CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre). At the same time, the breakthrough of high-profile independents in Kathmandu, Dharan, Dhangadhi and Janakpur signalled growing voter willingness to reward non-party candidates, particularly in cities. These local results set the political backdrop for the federal House of Representatives and provincial assembly elections held on 20 November 2022, later in the same Nepali year.