Kathmandu: Independent candidate Harkraj Sampang Rai has been elected as the mayor of Dharan Sub-metropolis.
Rai defeated his nearest rival Nepali Congress candidate Kishor Rai by 4,762 votes and has been elected as a mayor.
Rai got 20,821 votes while Kishor Rai got 16,059 votes and Manju Bhandari of CPN-UML got 12,825 votes.
Rai is a social activist and has been agitating in Dharan on various social issues.
Meanwhile, Indra Bikram Begha of CPN-Maoist has been elected as the deputy mayor with 20,510 votes.
His nearest rival Padam Prasad Limbu of CPN-M got only 17,606 votes.