Independent candidate for mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Balen Shah has crossed 34,000 votes as he maintains a lead of more than 15,500 over Keshav Sthapit of CPN-UML while Sirjana Singh of Nepali Congress (NC) closes the gap for second spot.
As per the latest update, Shah has secured 34,130 of the 93,647 votes counted so far to lead Sthapit by 15,583.
Sthapit has 18,547 votes, with Singh not far behind at 18,429.
Vote counting of ward numbers 7, 9, 10, 11, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 31 is currently underway at the Rashtriya Sabha Griha.