BHARATPUR: Common candidate for the ruling alliance for the post of Mayor of Bharatpur Metropolitan City Renu Dahal has taken a lead of 9,930 votes.

With 106,225 votes counted so far, she has received 43,743 votes while her nearest contender Bijaya Subedi of CPN-UML has got 33,813 votes.

Likewise, independent candidate Jagannath Poudel has received 13,377 votes. Meanwhile, for the post of Deputy Mayor Chitrasen Adhikari of the Nepali Congress has taken the lead over Himla Gurung of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) by 18,325 votes.

Adhikari has received 45,074 votes while Gurung has garnered 26,749 votes.

The counting of votes is underway in wards 23 and 25. Once the counting is over these wards, only four wards will be left to be counted.

There are 29 wards in the metropolis municipality. A total of 127,839 votes were cast in the local elections on May