NUWAKOT, May 21: A CPN (UML) candidate contesting the local level elections held here has outpolled his closest rival by a margin of a single vote to be elected as the chair of the Belkotgadhi Municipality's ward no 13. 

UML's Pashupati Lohani mustered 639 votes to be elected to the post of ward chairperson, assistant election official, Shanker Raj Pathak confirmed. His closest contender, Dhan Bahadur Lama, from the CPN (Maoist Centre) came as close as 638 votes, one less than that of the victor. 

The difference of a single vote between the winner and closest contestant prompted the officials to count the ballot papers three times, but only to have the same results in hand in each recount. 

Meanwhile, UML candidate Sita Pandey was elected as the ward member with 637 votes, while Maoist Centre's Kalika Devi Bardewa was elected member from the Dalit quota with 580 votes. In the open category, Maoist Centre's Bikash Pandey and UML's Hari Kumar Guruwacharya were elected ward members with 625 and 498 votes respectively. RSS 

 
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