Kathmandu, February 20

Counting of votes for the election of new leadership of CPN UML-aligned All Nepal National Free Students Union is under way at the office of its mother party in Dhumbarahi.

The 22nd national general convention of ANNFSU will elect a chairperson, four vice presidents and a general secretary through open competition. Two panels of ANNFSU workers — Nabina Lama, incumbent general secretary and Deepak Gautam, incumbent vice president — close to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and CPN-UML senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal respectively are in the fray for the chairmanship of the student wing.

As per the preliminary results made public at 6:00 am, Lama is leading with 281 votes against 234 of Gautam. A student leader said counting of votes from the Kathmandu Valley, Mechi, Koshi, Sagarmatha and Janakpur zones have come to an end today. Counting of votes from other zones is under way. Of the total 1,597 registered voters, 1,520 cast their votes, while 77 voters were absent.

Similarly, Abdul Hussain Khan and Ain Mahar are vying for the post of general secretary. Of the seven secretaries, four secretaries will be elected through open competition, while the remaining three will be nominated from reservation quotas.

Apart from this, chiefs of three committees disciplinary, 17-member standing committee and a 141-member central committee will be elected through the convention. The three-day convention had begun in the capital on February 11 but due to dispute over convention representatives, it was prolonged for more than a week.