How the new Nepali Congress leadership team is taking shape

KATHMANDU: Vote counting is ongoing in the Nepali Congress following the election of office bearers. Gagan Thapa has already been elected as party president in the election held for the post. He was elected president on Saturday with 6,584 votes. His competitor Shyam Krishna Khadgi received 375 votes. A total of 54 votes were invalidated in the election for the president. According to the Nepali Congress Central Office, out of 7,317 total General Convention delegates, 7,039 individuals cast their votes.

Party President Thapa was elected unopposed through the special General Convention held on January 11 this year. Thapa was elected president with 93.88 percent of the votes from the 15th regular General Convention that began on October 5. Bishwa Prakash Sharma has been elected unopposed as senior vice president. Sharma was elected unopposed after no one else filed a candidacy for that post.

Following the presidential election results, vote counting for vice president and general secretaries began on Saturday evening at 7:30 PM. Vote counting for candidates running for four vice president and three general secretary positions is underway, states Prem Bahadur Khadka, coordinator of the Election Committee. “Counting for vice president and general secretary is ongoing. We have started counting for Joint general secretary,” he says. “The counting has been delayed due to the large number of candidates and numerous clusters.” He states that the counting of votes for Central Members will begin after the counting for the Joint general secretary posts is completed.

Unrivaled Bhandari

On the strength of the special General Convention, after advancing by dissolving the central working committee led by Sher Bahadur Deuba, who was elected from the 14th General Convention, there is widespread interest in what kind of team Thapa builds after being elected with a heavy vote count. Thapa as party president, Sharma as senior vice president, and Pushpa Bhusal as female vice president have already been elected. Bhusal was elected unopposed after no other candidacies were filed for female vice president. All three of them are supporters of the special General Convention. Bhusal, who was in the Deuba faction, participated in the special General Convention. She became vice president through the special General Convention itself.

Nepali Congress Party Office in Sanepa. File photo