KATHMANDU: Sher Bahadur Deuba, 75, has been re-elected as the President of the Nepali Congress (NC).

He defeated his only contestant Dr Shekhar Koirala.

Deuba got 2733 votes while Koirala got 1855 votes.

In the second round of voting, a total of 4623 votes were cast. Out of these, only 4588 votes were valid.

NC influential leaders including Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Prakash Man Singh, Bimalendra Nidhi, and Sashank Koirala had supported Deuba in the second round of election held on Tuesday evening.

NC President Deuba, who began his political career as a leader of the Nepal Students Union (NSU), a student wing of the Nepali Congress party, had served as the President of the NSU from 1971 to 1980.

Deuba also remained active in campaigning during the 1990 Peoples’ Movement which dissolved the party-less Panchayat system and ushered in the beginning of multiparty democracy.

In the 1991 elections, Deuba was elected to the House of Representatives from Dadeldhura-1.

Born 13 June 1946 in Dadeldhura district, Deuba was again elected from the same constituency in the 1994 mid-term elections, and was elected parliamentary party leader of the Nepali Congress.

He has been the president of the NC since 2016.

Deuba first became prime minister in 1995.