Kathmandu, February 17

Election for the new leadership in the CPN-UML-aligned All Nepal National Free Students Union began today.

Somnath Pyasi, chairperson of Central Election Commission, CPN-UML, today said that though the election was scheduled to begin from early morning, it began at 5:00 pm due to poor preparations.

“The voters will be casting their votes by tonight while the vote counting will begin only after another decision,” said Pyasi. Around 700 candidates have filed their candidacies for a total of 335 posts.

A total of 1,597 voters will cast their votes in the election.

Currently, two panels of All Nepal National Free Students Union cadres close to Prime Minister K P 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 Oli panel while Deepak Gautam, vice chairman, 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.

Earlier in the noon, there was a dispute between cadres on the issue of publicity campaign.

As some cadres complained of receiving life threats, security personnel were mobilised in large number on the premises of the Academy Hall.

The three-day general convention of the UML student wing had kicked off on February 11 but was prolonged due to controversy over selection of convention representatives.