KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba today asserted that his victory was already assured and that the run-off poll was a mere formality.

Speaking to journalists briefly after casting his vote in the run-off, Deuba claimed the election was only a formality.

He insisted on working in collaboration with all the leaders even if they were defeated in the election while welding the party into a single entity.

The run-off election was held after all three candidates failed to garner more than 50 per cent of the total votes – a threshold required to win the election as per the party statute.

Deuba was just short of 11 votes to secure the presidency.

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Voting hours extended

Meanwhile, the Election Committee extended the voting hours till 6:45 pm today.

According to the Committee Secretary Pradip Parajuli, as many as 2,600 votes were cast till around 5:45 pm.