Harka Sampang, the independent candidate for mayor of Dharan Sub-metropolitan City, has extended his lead over ruling alliance candidate Kishore Rai to 2,844 votes.
As per the latest update, Sampang has registered 16,026 of the 50,109 votes counted so far while Rai of Nepali Congress is trailing him with 13,182 votes. Manju Bhandari of CPN-UML is third at 10,622.
Meanwhile, alliance candidate Aindra Bikram Begha of CPN (Maoist Center) leads the race for deputy mayor with 16,079 votes. His closest rival Padam Iswo of CPN-UML has 14,431 votes.