KATHMANDU: The vote count for general secretaries under the 14th General Convention of Nepali Congress is underway.

As per the preliminary vote count results, Gagan Thapa has taken the lead with 2101 votes followed by Bishwa Prakash Sharma with 1287 votes.

A total of 3220 votes have been counted so far.

Six candidates — Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat, Pradip Paudel, Dr Minendra Rijal, Gagan Thapa, Bishwa Prakash Sharma and Dr Raja Ram Karki — are contesting the election for the two posts of general secretaries of the NC.

Mahat and Paudel are from Sher Bahadur Deuba panel, Rijal and Thapa are from Dr Shekhar Koirala panel while Sharma and Karki are vying for the post of general secretaries from Prakash Man Singh and Bimalendra Nidhi panels, respectively.

Sher Bahadur Deuba has been elected as the president and Purna Bahadur Khadka and Dhan Raj Gurung have been elected as vice presidents of the NC.

In the election held on Monday under the 14th General Convention, 4,679 votes have been cast. There was a total of 4,743 voters in the general convention.

Preliminary vote count update:

Gagan Thapa: 2101
Bishwa Prakash Sharma: 1287
Prakash Sharan Mahat: 1061
Pradip Paudel: 971
Minendra Rijal: 566
Raja Ram Karki: 75