KATHMANDU: Shekhar Koirala is leading the vote count with 618 votes out of 1003 counted so far in the open category of the Nepali Congress Central Working Committee members' election held earlier this week.

Following him are Prakash Man Singh and Khum Bahadur Khadka.

Among top 25 contenders, the newly elected President Sher Bahadur Deuba-led panel is apparently holding the majority though the top two candidates - Koirala and Singh - belong to the rival faction led by outing acting President Ram Chandra Paudel.

Total 90 contenders are in the race for 25 positions.

Meanwhile, the party's Election Committee is simultaneously counting votes for CWC members under other reservation categories.

SN

Candidates

Votes till 1003 counted

1.

Shekhar Koirala

618

2.

Prakash Man Singh

612

3.

Khum Bahadur Khadka

603

4.

Pradeep Paudel

589

5.

Purna Bahadur Khadka

578

6.

Ramesh Lekhak

575

7.

Bimalendra Nidhi

574

8.

Pradeep Giri

570

9.

Bal Krishna Khand

561

10.

Mahesh Acharya

560

11.

Kul Bahadur Gurung

559

12.

Dhan Raj Gurung

559

13.

Bal Bahadur KC

548

14.

Ram Sharan Mahat

538

15.

Sujata Koirala

529

16.

Bishwa Prakash Sharma

525

17.

Shankar Bhandari

513

18.

Prakash Sharan Mahat

505

19.

Minendra Rijal

505

20.

Narayan Khadka

494

21.

Badri Pandey

490

22.

Chandra Bhandari

489

23.

Gopal Man Shrestha

485

24.

Gyanendra Bahadur Karki

482

25.

NP Saud

480

26.

Jip Chhiring Lama

433

27.

Padma Narayan Chaudhary

431

28.

Udaya Shamsher Rana

420

29.

Dina Mahalaxmi Upadhyaya

413

30.

Ashok Koirala

399

31.

Man Mohan Bhattarai

378

32.

Govinda Raj Joshi

371

33.

Govinda Raj Pokharel

345

34.

Ram Hari Khatiwada

328

35.

Tara Nath Ranabhat

321

36.

Ram Krishna Tamrakar

288

37.

Dhruba Wagle

282

38.

Laxman Bahadur Basnet

247

39.

Chiranjivi Wagle

246

40.

Pushkar Nath Ojha

240