Lalitpur, August 18

Nain Singh Mahar has been elected president of the Nepali Congress-aligned Nepal Student Union through its 11th national general convention.

Mahar defeated his closest rival Manoj Mani Acharya and five other candidates  Ananda Raj Tripathy, Nagen Singh Thakuri, Bachan Karki, Laxman Acharya and Shubharam Basnet  to bag the post.

According to coordinator of the election committee Bharat Prasad Kharel, Mahar garnered 1,447 votes against 1,328 votes obtained by his his closest rival Acharya.

Mahar was backed by party president Sher Bahadur Deuba, and party’s Central Working Committee members Pradeep Paudel and Gagan Thapa, who are former presidents of NSU.

Similarly, Acharya was backed by party’s senior leader Ramchandra Paudel. However, Deuba panel won most of the NSU posts.

Likewise, of the five contenders for general secretary, only Kundan Raj Kafle and Saroj Thapa were elected for the post. Kafle and Thapa were elected general secretary by garnering 1,794 and 1,290 votes respectively, said Kharel.

Although 3,852 voters had been registered, only 3,307 cast their votes during the election that ended at around 7:00 pm today.

Bikash KC with 146 votes has been elected vice president from Province 1, Sanjaya Kumar Yadav with 120 votes from Province 2, Ram Prasad Adhikari with 248 votes from Province 3, Dilli Ram Subedi with 162 votes from Province 4, Shree Prakash Rana with 112 votes from Province 5, Khadga Bahadur Dangi with 85 votes from Province 6 and Puspa Kumar Shahi with 151 votes) from Province 7.

Urmila Thapaliya with 1,720 votes, Pawan Yadav with 1,575 votes, Nabin Rai with 1,354 votes and Sagar Pariyar with 1,450 votes have also been elected vice- president from woman, Madhesi, indigenous nationalities and Dalit categories respectively.

Similarly, Shiva Rimal has been elected treasurer with 1,287 votes.

The 11th national general convention will form a 151-member new central committee with 129 elected members and 22 nominated members for two years.

Amended NSU statute states that if the Central Committee fails to hold the 12th national general convention within two years, the current committee would be automatically dissolved within three months.

As per the new statute, cadres above the age of 32 years would be barred from contesting for any post from the next general convention.

The NSU convention had begun from August 7 and was scheduled to end on August 9 by electing a new central committee, but it was prolonged due to dispute over selection of convention representatives.

‘Next convention within two years’

Newly elected President of Nepal Student Union Nainsingh Mahar today vowed to fulfil all the commitments he had made before the election.

Talking to The Himalayan Times today, Mahar said NSU was a very powerful sister wing of the Nepali Congress and hence would strive to establish strong coordination between students for revolution in academic sector.

“I will try to maintain discipline in NSU and improve the conduct of cadres,” he said.

He also stated that the first meeting of the new central committee would be held by August 20. The meeting would take decisions regarding NSU’s future plans, policy and programme.

The 11th national general convention of NSU was held after nine years. However, Mahar has pledged to hold the next convention within two years. “We must hold the 12th national general convention within two years.

Thus, coordination and cooperation among NSU CC members is a must,” he added.

Mahar joined student politics in 1990 as NSU cadre. He is also the founding president of Federation of Nepali Journalists in Dadeldhura, his home district.

He has already received various international awards and published a number of articles and books.