The election, which was earlier set to begin from Sunday, was postponed for Tuesday following disputes over nomination of representatives. But the voting could not start even on Tuesday as the ANNFSU failed to resolve the disputes, forcing it to postpone the voting till Wednesday.
The CPN (UML) has formed a seven-member committee led by party Secretary Gokarna Bista for supervising the election of the new leadership.
The other members of the committee are Rabindra Adhikari, Khim Lal Bhattarai, Rajendra Rai, Thakur Gaire, Shree Prasad Saha and Kishor Bikram Malla.
Talking to Republica, Sudip Sharma, a candidate for the post of Central Secretariat member, said, "Voting started from 5 pm Wednesday and it looks like it will continue till 5 am Thursday."
The current general-secretary Nabina Lama and vice-president Deepak Gautam are vying for the post of union's presidency. While the Lama faction is loyal to Prime Minister and UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, the Gautam faction is loyal to UML senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal. The candidates will be competing for 17 office-bearer posts and 141 seats for central committee members.
The candidates for the post of vice-chairman from the Lama faction are Sunita Baral, Shailesh Lama, Mahesh Bartaula and Rashmi Aacharya, while Yen Bahadur Mahara is in the race for the post of general secretary. Likewise, candidates for the post of vice-chairman from the Gautam faction are Radhika Khatiwada, Jeevan Rai, Nilkantha Aacharya and Saroj Yadav while Abdul Hussain Khan is in the race for the post of general secretary.
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