Kathmandu, March 6

Voting for the 64 elected positions of Nepali Congress’s Central Working Committee concluded today on the fourth day of the 13th National General Convention that began on March 3.

Counting of the votes for the president was delayed and although the voting concluded at around 9:30, the counting began past midnight due to a dispute over giving voting rights to 30 nominated NGC representatives.

Out of 3,161 voters 3,148 cast their votes for party president. A candidate should garner 50 per cent plus one votes (at least 1,575) of the votes cast to become the party president. The-first-past-the-post system applies for other positions.

Vote counting for other posts will begin at the party headquarters in Sanepa only after the result of the party president’s voting is announced, according to the party’s election committee member Gopal Krishna Ghimire.

Ballot boxes for all posts other than the president’s were taken to the party headquarters after the voting concluded.

Although the voting was slated to be held from 8:00am to 5:00pm, it began at 9:15am and concluded only around 9:30pm at the City Hall.

Three leaders -- Ramchandra Paudel, Sher Bahadur Deuba and Krishna Prasad Sitaula -- contested for the post of party president and had their own panels for other posts.

Shashanka Koirala, Arjun Narsingh KC and Gagan Thapa contested for the post of general secretary from the three panels, respectively, while Sita Devi Yadav, Chitra Lekha Yadav and Umakanta Chaudhari contested for the post of treasurer.

Paudel and Sitaula from the establishment side are in fray for the president’s post, with their own panels. An independent candidate, Krishna Karki, is contesting for the post of treasurer.

Earlier, during the daylong voting, Bhrikutimandap was abuzz with activities, as supporters of candidates were engaged in campaigning and their publicity.

Some were chanting slogans, while others were singing and dancing with loud speakers on. Leaflets were scattered at the site.

Candidates, including Paudel, Deuba and Sitaula were seen appealing to voters who had queued up to vote.

If none of the three candidates secured 50 per cent votes in the first round, runoff elections between the first and the second will be held at 10:00am tomorrow, according to Ghimire.

A total of 312 candidates are vying for 64 posts, including three office-bearers and CWC members.

Of the 375 candidates who filed their candidacies, 63 candidates for CWC members withdrew their candidacy today.

Counting begins past midnight

KATHMANDU: Although the vote counting was scheduled to begin immediately after the voting was over, it began only at 1:50am due to the dispute over whether 30 NGC representatives nominated by late party president Sushil Koirala should be given the voting rights.

The election committee finally decided not to allow them to cast their votes, according to election committee member Ghimire.

He wrote a note of dissent on the decision of other two election committee members -- Radheshyam Adhikari and Khumma Bahadur Khati, who decided not to allow them voting rights, according to the election committee secretary Pradip Parajuli.

The election committee denied them voting right due to the ambiguous provision of the party statute, he said.

Acting President Ramchandra Paudel and General Secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula tried to persuade coordinator of the election committee Radheshyam Adhikary to allow them to vote but in vain.

Three voters hurt

KATHMANDU: At least three Nepali Congress general convention representatives queuing up to cast their votes were injured after a gust of wind dismantled tents and other structures set up at the polling centre for open category and seven Pradeshes during the last minutes of the voting.

Some 150 voters had yet to cast their ballots for the CWC members at that time. They got to cast their votes after two hours of delay.

They had already cast their votes for office bearers’ and other CWC posts. Carrying ballot papers in their hands, some representatives fled to safer places, while some complained they had lost their ballot papers.

There were nine ballot papers for various posts and reservation categories of CWC membership.

The injured have been identified as Ram Dayal Yadav from Siraha, Sabita Rai from Okhaldhunga and Srijana Adhikari from Chitwan.