KATHMANDU: The 28th Executive Council election of Nepal Engineers Association (NEA), an umbrella organisation of engineers, is all set for Wednesday. Unlike the elections of other professionals body, the election of NEA had failed to lure media attention.

Out of 25,000 engineers, 6,688 of the registered 11,000 at NEA are enjoying their voting rights. Eleven different cities - home and abroad - will hold the election.

The Maoist-affiliated Republican Engineers Group and UML-affiliated Progressive Professional Engineers Group have formed a joint panel to fight against the NC-affiliated Loktantrik Group. Hari Om Shrivastav leads the loktantrik panel while Bharat Raj Pahari the former.

Meanwhile, citing dispute and a court-case last year the electronic voting system have been cancelled. The voters list, however, was not free from faults as Dinesh Chandra Pyakurel then secretary, who committed suicide some years back was still in the voters list, Ram Lal Tuladhar, one of the candidates of the Republican panel claimed.

He also accused the NEA of not helping the engineers there by not attracting many to vote. The democratic panel had been leading the council since its establishment, he confirmed.

Pahari's panel have fielded candidates like Shambhu Bahadur Shrestha to fight Bhagat Man Singh Pradhan for the post of vice president. Similarly, Jagat Kumar Shrestha and Dhruba Raj Thapa are contesting for the post of general secretary. While Bimal Gurung and Mukesh Kafle, Sushil Prasad Sah and Laxmi Panta are contesting for treasurer, the joint panel stated.

The other contestants from Pahari's panel included Ram Lal Tuladhar, Sanjeev Baral, Binod Kumar Chapagain, Basanta Lingthep, Giridhar Mishra, Jayaraj Panta, Charushree Nakarmi, Sonalal Yadav, Janardan Bhatta and Reni Bajracharya.