Thapa registered a comfortable victory, Sharma too left other contenders behind by a safe margin
KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 16
Nepali Congress leaders Gagan Kumar Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma have been elected the general-secretaries of the party.
Thapa, the leading candidate in the band of hopefuls for the post, secured the highest number of votes, 3023. Interestingly, this is also the highest number of votes received by any candidate for an executive post in the party's current convention, so far.
He enjoyed a comfortable lead from the initial phase of the counting process which was maintained throughout.
He had announced his candidacy for the post from Shekhar Koirala's panel. Koirala was defeated by Deuba in the polls for party president.
A total of 4682 votes were cast in the polls to elect two general secretaries of the grand old party.
The next highest number of votes, 1984, were received by Sharma, who also widened the gap between himself and other contenders midway through the vote-count. Sharma belongs to Prakash Man Singh's camp.
Singh had, in the run-off for party president election, thrown his weight behind Deuba, deserting his earlier committment to fight for leadership change in the party.
Meanwhile, Prakash Sharan Mahat who was considered a strong contender for the post since he belonged to the NC President and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's faction, had to settle for the third spot with 1556 votes.
Likewise, Pradeep Paudel who also represented camp-Deuba came in fourth with 1393 votes. He was backed by NC leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula.
In the similar manner, Defence Minister Minendra Rijal who was also vying to get elected as NC general-secretary garnered relatively low numbers, 809, standing fifth in the race. He contested the election from Koirala's panel.
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The sixth contender Rajaram Karki finished last with 106 votes.
