NC central election body unveils final list of candidates, five competing for President

KATHMANDU: The Nepali Congress (NC) Central Election Committee has unveiled the final name list of candidates for the voting for new leadership in the party’s 14th General Convention underway in the central capital since December 10.

The name list reads Sher Bahadur Deuba, Bimalendra Nidhi, Prakashman Singh, Dr Shekhar Koirala and Kalyan Kumar Gurung as the candidates for the President. General Convention representative from Gorkha, Yuba Raj Neupane, who had filed his candidacy for the post of President on Saturday, withdrew the candidacy today. Among five candidates, one will be elected to the post.

Similarly, Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, Purna Bahadur Khadka, Mahesh Acharya, Sujata Koirala, Dr Chandra Bhandari, Dhanraj Gurung, and Dibyashwori Shah will be vying for the posts of two vice-presidents while six candidates Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat, Dr Minendra Rijal, Bishwa Prakash Sharma, Gagan Kumar Thapa, Pradeep Poudel and Dr Rajaram Karki are to contend for the seats of two general secretaries.

Kamala Pant and Deena Mahalaxmi Upadhyay are the candidacies for the joint-general secretary (towards woman quota) while Man Bahadur Bishwakarma, Jeevan Pariyar, and Ganga Sunar have their candidacies for the joint-general secretary (towards Dalit quota).

Bikash Lama and Bhishmaraj Angdembe will be competing for the join-general secretary (towards the indigenous nationalities quota) while Dev Raj Chalise and Kishore Singh Rathor have their candidacies for the post of joint- general secretary (towards Khas Arya quota).

The candidacy of Ranjeet Karna, Ram Krishna Yadav, and Mahendra Yadav remains for one joint general secretary post towards the Madhesi category. Similarly, Farmullah Mansoor and Shekh Wokil are the candidates for one joint general secretary post towards the Muslim cluster.

Tejulal Chaudhary and Umakanta Chaudhary are competing for the one joint general secretary post under the Tharu category after Surendra Prasad Chaudhary took back his nomination.

From the backward region cluster, Badri Prasad Pandey, Jeevan Bahadur Shahi, and Chetraj Bajal are vying for the one joint general secretary post.

There are 4,743 general convention representatives taking part in the voting. They were elected from 165 federal electoral constituencies and the party’s sister organizations, well-wisher organizations, and the public relations committee abroad. The voting will take place from 8 am to 5 pm on Monday.