KATHMANDU: Independent candidate Balen Shah has continued leading the race by getting 31,145 votes for the next mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

His nearest rival CPN-UML’s Keshav Sthapit has got 16,918 votes so far while Nepali Congress candidate Sirjana Singh has got 16,562 votes. Balen has led Sthapit with a margin of 14,227 votes as of Saturday morning. Similarly, Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP)’s candidate has obtained 2,755 votes.

According to the results, Sirjana Singh has reduced the difference in the number of votes with Keshav Sthapit. The difference in votes between the two candidates is 356 votes.

The counting of votes of 1, 2, 3,4,5,28,29,30, and 32 wards have been declared so far.