The High Court of Pokhara has ordered the re-counting of votes for the post of ward chairperson elected via the local level election held on 13 May 2022 in Pokhara Metropolitan City-18.
Shiva Prasad Timilsina from Nepal congress was declared as the winner defeating Puskal Bahadur Thapa, candidate from UML with three votes in the local level election. But Thapa had filed a petition in the High Court on 1 June, demanding a recount, claiming that he had won by the election by the margin of nine votes.
The office of election officer declared Shiv Prasad’s win receiving 1,643 votes. As per the office, Puskal Bahadur Thapa had received 1,640 votes. However, Thapa claimed that nine votes- which as per him were his votes, were missing in the counted votes.
The joint bench of Justice Dilliraj Acharya and Rishiraj Bhandari had given an order on 4 April to re-count the vote on 3 May 2023. Advocate Surendra Thapa Magar, who argued on behalf of Puskal, informed that the vote shall be recounted in the presence of High Court. He also notified that the venue for the vote counting will be decided in coordination.