Kathmandu, March 5

The rumour mill went into overdrive with speculations and social media posts that Gagan Thapa had given up the three-way race and was stealthily soliciting votes for Arjun Narsingh KC on the eve of voting in the Nepali Congress National General Convention today afternoon.

The candidate for general secretary, on the other hand, wasted no time clarifying. He took to Facebook and Twitter to quell the propaganda against him and asserted that he was very much in the race.

The youth leader has one of the largest social media followings in Nepal with over 263,000 followers on Twitter and 119,000 on Facebook, and has been using the popular social media sites for his election campaign as well.

Using the same platform, he dismissed the social media posts and reports on some online news portals, saying they were baseless and untrue.

Thapa later organised a press meet at the General Convention venue to clarify that he was determined to compete and that he represented all youth members of the party despite his family ties with KC. Rubbishing charges that he had filed his nomination as a strategy to help his father-in-law win, he said, “I have taken this significant and tough decision to present myself as a candidate for general secretary with due prudence.”

It is not just Thapa who has used social media for campaigning. Supporters of Nepali Congress presidential aspirants Ramchandra Paudel and Sher Bahadur Deuba have also followed suit. Their social media managers have been posting photographs of activities related to the General Convention and messages to woo party voters.

Some candidates vying for the post of Central Working Committee members, including Bishwa Prakash Sharma, have also used Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, appealing to party representatives to vote for them in the elections to be held tomorrow.

In a 1:26-minute video posted on YouTube, Sharma, a former student leader, is seen saying, “Congress brought in changes in the country. Now, let’s rise to change the Congress.”

“APF Twitter hacked?”

KATHMANDU: A link leading to news about the CWC member candidates from the Deuba-led panel appeared on the timeline of Armed Police Force’s official Twitter on Saturday afternoon. After some time, it was deleted. APF Spokesperson DIG Shailendra Khanal said APF’s Twitter was temporarily hacked. “We are looking into the matter. If it’s outsiders who posted the material, legal action will be sought against them. If it’s an insider, we will take departmental action,” he said. It, however, is not the first time that irrelevant and political material has been posted on the APF’s social media account. On February 24, news related to Prime Minister KP Oli’s state visit to India was posted from the APF’s Twitter handle (@NepalAPF). — HNS