KATHMANDU: Balen Shah appears to have a significant lead to be Kathmandu Metropolitan City’s next mayor if the current trend of vote count continues.

Independent candidate Balen has continued to lead by getting over 24,000 votes in Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

So far, he has received 24,332 out of more than 61,000 votes counted as of Thursday evening.

His nearest rival CPN-UML’s Keshav Sthapit has got 12,573 votes.

In the Kathmandu Metropolis, Nepali Congress candidate Sirjana Singh has got 12,093 votes.

Similarly, deputy mayoral candidate Sunita Dangol of CPN-UML has polled 19,954 while CPN (Unified Socialist)’s Rameshwor Shrestha got 6,780.

The counting of votes in wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 28, 29, 30, 31, and 32 of Kathmandu Metropolis has been completed.