Kathmandu, February 16

Election for new leadership in the CPN-UML-aligned student union All Nepal National Free Students Union (ANNFSU) is starting tomorrow morning.

Somnath Pyasi, chairperson of Central Election Commission of the CPN-UML today said that election will begin from around 9:00am tomorrow at the Academy hall in a very confidential manner.

He said that they were going to publish the list of final candidates vying for various posts by this evening and print the ballot paper by midnight at any cost.

“The ballot paper will be seven or eight pages and it will take some time to print,” he said adding that they were preparing the ballot paper in such a way that candidates vying for a particular post would appear on the same page.

He also informed that the names of the candidates in the ballot paper will be printed in alphabetical order.

Till date, the total number of voters for election in the 22nd national general convention of ANNFSU is 1,597, he said.

The three-day convention had begun on February 11 amid controversies over the selection of convention representatives in a few district and regional committees.

The convention was prolonged till the sixth day today due to lack of consensus among cadres over selection of convention representatives.

Currently, two panels of ANNFSU cadres close to the two senior leaders of the mother party Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and Madhav Kumar Nepal are contending for the top posts in the union.

Nabina Lama, general secretary is contending for the post of chairperson from the Oli panel, while Deepak Gautam, vice president, is contending for the same post from the Nepal panel. Similarly, Abdul Hussain Khan and Ain Mahar are contending for the post of general secretary.

“Due to weak preparations, the convention was prolonged by a few more days,” Pyasi said, adding, “Now all the disputes have been settled and the election will be held in a peaceful manner tomorrow.”

The national general convention will elect a president, four vice-presidents and a general secretary through open competition.

Similarly out of seven secretaries, four secretaries will be elected through open competition, while the remaining three will be nominated.

Apart from this, chiefs of three committees, 17-member standing committee and a 141-member central committee will be elected during the convention.