KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress (NC) youth leaders — Gagan Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma — have been elected General Secretaries of the Nepali Congress.

Thapa got the highest votes (3023), which is nearly two-thirds, and Sharma got 1984 (42 percent) under the 14th General Convention of NC out of the total 4682 votes cast.

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

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

Meanwhile, Sher Bahadur Deuba has already been elected as the party President and Purna Bahadur Khadka and Dhan Raj Gurung have been elected as Vice Presidents of the NC.

Talking briefly with the media, newly-elected General Secretary Sharma said, “This is not the victory of an individual or a faction. It is the victory of Nepali Congress as a whole. This is the beginning of transformation in the party.”

Votes:

Gagan Thapa: 3023
Bishwa Prakash Sharma: 1984
Prakash Sharan Mahat: 1550
Pradip Paudel: 1409
Minendra Rijal: 809
Raja Ram Karki: 107

Who is Gagan Thapa?

Gagan Thapa, born in 1976, is a youth leader who has also served as the Minister of Health and Population from 2016 to 2017.

He is the Member of the House of Representatives since 2008, and is currently in its Parliamentary Committee on Education and Health.

He has been a youth icon and has involved in student politics during the pro-democracy movements and became the General Secretary of the Nepal Students Union from 2002 to 2004.

He was also declared a Prisoner of Conscience by the Amnesty International (AI) in 2005, following his arrest on charges of treason.

In 2008, he was elected to the first Constitutional Assembly, and in 2010 became a Central Committee member of Nepal Congress.

He won in 2013 as a member of the second Constitutional Assembly.

Thapa was elected to the HoR in 2017 for the 2nd time from Kathmandu-4 constituency.

Thapa is a popular leader and is renowned for his oratory and eloquence.

He is also a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.

Who is Bishwa Prakash Sharma? 

Bishwa Prakash Sharma, also the spokesperson of NC, is a politician and an influential youth leader and scholar of Nepali Congress.

Sharma, a youth leader from Jhapa district, was elected to central committee member of the Nepali Congress in 2014.

In 2057 BS, he was elected to the post of President of Nepal Student Union.

Likewise, on 14 March 2016, he was elected to central committee of Nepali Congress Party, and was nominated as the Spokesperson.