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Rajesh Man Singh, the common candidate of ruling coalition, has been elected as the mayor of Birgunj Metropolitan City, the only metropolis in Madhesh.

According to the final results of the counting of votes in all the 32 wards of the metropolis that ended on Tuesday morning, Janata Samajbadi Party candidate Singh from the ruling alliance has won the post of mayor.

Singh secured 46, 215 votes against his nearest rival Bijay Sarawagi of CPN-UML who garnered 23, 171 votes.

Similarly, Imtiaz Alam, the common candidate of ruling coalition, has been elected as the deputy mayor.

Nepali Congress candidate from the ruling coalition, Alam defeated Purushottam Lal Jha of the Democratic Socialist Party by a huge margin to become the deputy mayor.

Renu Dahal of CPN (Maoist Centre) has been elected for the second term as the mayor of Bharatpur Metropolitan City.

She was elected the mayor of Bharatpur by defeating CPN-UML's Bijay Subedi with 12, 446 votes.

Dahal secured 52, 028 votes while Subedi received 39, 582 votes.

Independent candidate Jagannath Paudel got 14, 728 votes.

Similarly, Chitrasen Adhikari of Nepali Congress has been elected as the deputy mayor. 

She defeated Himala Gurung of Rastriya Prajatantra Party to become the deputy mayor of Bharatpur.

The Election Officer's Office is preparing to make public the official results after some time.

Independent candidate Manoj Kumar Sah has been elected as the mayor of Janakpurdham Sub-Metropolitan City.

Similarly, Kishori Sah of Nepali Congress has been elected as the deputy mayor.

Manoj Kumar Sah secured 13, 465 votes while his nearest rival Shiva Shankar Sah of CPN-UML garnered 9, 532 votes.

Likewise, Kishori Sah received 15, 525 votes. Her closest contender Rubi Devi Jha of CPN-UML got 10, 885 votes.

President Joe Biden said Monday that the US would intervene militarily if China were to invade Taiwan, saying the burden to protect Taiwan is “even stronger’ after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was one of the most forceful presidential statements in support of self-governing in decades, Associated Press reported.

Biden, at a news conference in Tokyo, said “yes” when asked if he was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if China invaded. “That’s the commitment we made,” he added.

The US traditionally has avoided making such an explicit security guarantee to Taiwan, with which it no longer has a mutual defense treaty, instead maintaining a policy of “strategic ambiguity” about how far it would be willing to go if China invaded. The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which has governed US relations with the island, does not require the US to step in militarily to defend Taiwan if China invades, but makes it American policy to ensure Taiwan has the resources to defend itself and to prevent any unilateral change of status in Taiwan by Beijing.

Biden’s comments were likely to draw a sharp response from the mainland, which has claimed Taiwan to be a rogue province. 

A White House official said Biden’s comments did not reflect a policy shift.

Speaking alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Biden said any effort by China to use force against Taiwan would “just not be appropriate,” adding that it “will dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine.”

China has stepped up its military provocations against democratic Taiwan in recent years aimed at intimidating it into accepting Beijing’s demands to unify with the communist mainland, according to Associated Press.

“They’re already flirting with danger right now by flying so close and all the maneuvers that are undertaken,” Biden said of China.

Under the “one China” policy, the US recognizes Beijing as the government of China and doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. However, the US maintains unofficial contacts including a de facto embassy in Taipei, the capital, and supplies military equipment for the island’s defense.

Biden said it is his “expectation” that China would not try to seize Taiwan by force, but he said that assessment “depends upon just how strong the world makes clear that that kind of action is going to result in long-term disapprobation by the rest of the community.”

He added that deterring China from attacking Taiwan was one reason why it’s important that Russian President Vladimir Putin “pay a dear price for his barbarism in Ukraine,” lest China and other nations get the idea that such action is acceptable.

Fearing escalation with nuclear-armed Russia, Biden quickly ruled out putting US forces into direct conflict with Russia, but he has shipped billions of dollars in US military assistance that has helped Ukraine put up a stiffer-than-expected resistance to Russia’s onslaught, Associated Press reported.

It’s not the first time Biden has pledged to defend Taiwan against a Chinese attack, only for administration officials to later claim there had been no change to American policy. In a CNN town hall in October, Biden was asked about using the US military to defend Taiwan and replied, “Yes, we have a commitment to do that.”