Dhana Raj Acharya ( ne, धनराज आचार्य) (born 30 March 1970) is a Nepalese politician, businessman and philanthropist. He is currently serving as the 16th

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of Pokhara Metropolitan City. Acharya announced his candidacy under the

Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist) The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist) (), abbreviated as CPN (Unified Socialist) is a political party in Nepal. Former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal is the chairman of the party and former Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal serves as ...

party for the mayoral election of Pokhara at the 2022 local election. He won the election with 58,893 votes. Previously, he has held various positions such as the general secretary and national president of Nepal Book and Business Association, executive member of Pokhara Industries and Commerce Association, and part of the high-level book policy drafting & textbook pricing committee as an expert member.

Early life and education

Acharya was born on 30 March 1970 (17 Chaitra 2026 BS) in

Bharat Pokhari Bharat Pokhari is a town in Kaski District in the Gandaki Province of northern-central Nepal. It lies at the height of 657 to 1600 meters above sea level. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 8,889 persons living in 1782 ind ...

neighbourhood of Pokhara city of

Kaski District Kaski District ( ne, कास्की जिल्ला, ), a part of Gandaki Province, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The name is disambiguated from Kaskikot, the ancient Kaski Kingdom. The district, with Pokhara as its di ...

to father Ritu Nath Acharya and mother Jamuna Devi Acharya. He went to Shanti Udaya Secondary School for his school–level education. He then joined

Prithvi Narayan Campus Prithvi Narayan Campus or P.N. Campus,( ne, पृथ्वीनारायण क्याम्पस) is a public co-educational institution located in the northern part of the Pokhara city and is one of the largest campuses affiliated to th ...

for his higher studies. He has a master's degree in Business Administration and in Education.

Political career

He became a member of

All Nepal National Free Students Union (UML) The All Nepal National Free Students' Union ( ne, अखिल नेपाल राष्ट्रिय स्वतन्त्र विद्यार्थी युनियन, abbreviated as अनेरास्ववियु) is a p ...

in at the age of 13. He was politically involved as a student leader at

Pokhara Pokhara ( ne, पोखरा, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Gandaki Province. It is the List of cities in Nepal, second most populous city of Nepal after Kathmandu, with 518,452 inhabitants living ...

. He was initially a member of CPN(Marxist–Leninist) from 1985 to 1991. In 1991, he joined the

CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) CPN may refer to: * Calpine Corporation, New York Stock Exchange symbol CPN * Canadian Perinatal Network * ''Carnivorous Plant Newsletter'' * Carpinteria (Amtrak station), California, Amtrak station code CPN * Caspian Airlines (Iran), ICAO airline ...

, formed after the merger of CPN (ML) and CPN (Marxist) (1986–1991). He became the leader of UML's Kaski Industry and Business Department in 2003 and served as fraction secretary of the Federation of Nepal Book and Stationery Entrepreneurs from 2004 to 2012. In 2018,

Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) (; abbr. CPN (UML)) is the largest political party in Nepal on the basis of memberships. As per the results of recent elections, ''CPN (UML)'' stands as the second largest party of Nepal ...

and

CPN (Maoist Centre) The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) (), abbreviated CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN-Maoist Centre, CPN Maoist Centre, or CPN (MC), is the third largest political party in Nepal. It was founded in 1994 after breaking away from the Communist P ...

joined to form

Nepal Communist Party The Nepal Communist Party, abbreviated NCP ( ne, नेपाल कम्युनिष्ट पार्टी, ) is a defunct communist party of Nepal. It was founded on 17 May 2018, from the unification of two leftist parties, Communist ...

. He then became a member of NCP. The party split in 2021. After the split of the party, he moved to the newly formed

CPN (Unified Socialist) The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist) (), abbreviated as CPN (Unified Socialist) is a political party in Nepal. Former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal is the chairman of the party and former Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal serves as ...

in August 2021. He announced his candidacy for the 2022 Nepalese local election for the post of Mayor of Pokhara Metropolitan City. In 2022 Nepalese elections,

competed under a coalition with CPN(Maoist Centre), PSP-N,

Janamorcha Nepal Janamorcha Nepal ( ne, जनमोर्चा नेपाल, , People's Front Nepal) was founded in 2002 as the mass organisation and electoral front of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre–Masal). It was formed following the merger b ...

and the ruling party

Nepali Congress The Nepali Congress ( ne, नेपाली कांग्रेस ; abbr. NC) is the largest social democratic political party in Nepal. As per the results of recent local election, ''Nepali Congress'' stands as the single largest party o ...

. There were 23 candidates competing for the mayoral post. His major competitor was Krishna Bahadur Thapa of

CPN (UML) CPN may refer to: * Calpine Corporation, New York Stock Exchange symbol CPN * Canadian Perinatal Network * ''Carnivorous Plant Newsletter'' * Carpinteria (Amtrak station), California, Amtrak station code CPN * Caspian Airlines (Iran), ICAO airline ...

. Acharya won the election with 58,893 votes whereas Thapa received 52,848 votes.

Personal life

He is married to Pushpa Kumari Acharya. They have 2 children. As of 20 July 2022, his assets was calculated to be रु.436,145,613 ( $3,412,403) and his total debt was calculated to be रु.28,500,000 ( $222,984).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Acharya, Dhana Raj 1970 births People from Pokhara 21st-century Nepalese businesspeople 21st-century Nepalese politicians Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist) politicians Prithvi Narayan Campus alumni Living people