DHARAN: Independent candidate Hark Raj Rai (Harka Sampang) has been elected as the mayor of Dharan Sub-metropolis.

Harka defeated Nepali Congress candidate Kishor Rai with a wide margin of more than 5,000 votes. Kishor was the mayoral candidate from the ruling coalition.

Harka got 20,821 while his nearest rival Kishor got 16,059 votes.

Similarly, UML’s Manju Bhandari Subedi came third with 12,825 votes.

According to the Election Commission, Aindra Bikram Begha of the CPN (Maoist Center) won the post of deputy mayor securing 20,510 votes. His nearest rival Padam Prasad Limbu got 17,606 votes.

Interestingly, like mayoral candidate of Kathmandu Balen Shah, Harka had also got the walking stick as the electoral symbol.