KATHMANDU: MAY. 15 – The counting of votes in Sunsari’s Barahakshetra Municipality has been halted.
Election Officer Ramesh Shrestha informed that the vote-counting had been postponed due to a misunderstanding during the vote counting.
The controversy erupted after voters demanded that votes stamped with the swastika stamp on the Hasiya Hathuda election symbol be counted as votes cast for the Congress candidate.
Barakhshetra’s mayor and deputy mayor are Neelam Khanal of the UML, Ramesh Karki of the Congress, and Amit Gautam of the UCPN (Maoist).
Neelam Khanal of the UML received 678 votes, while Ramesh Karki of the Congress got 572 votes.
Shrestha stated that an all-party meeting was being held in order to start counting votes.