KIRTIPUR, March 29: Vote counting at all eight vote counting centers at Tribhuvan University Central Campus, Kirtipur has been halted following disputes among student unions on Sunday afternoon. [break]
CPN-UML-affiliated All Nepal National Free Students’ Union (ANNFSU) and Nepali Congress-affiliated Nepal Students Union (NSU) have demanded that vote counting be immediately resumed at Prithvi Narayan Campus, Pokhara as well.
The election committee at the Campus has not announced the vote counting results after 12 p.m.
As of Sunday noon, Maoist-affiliated All Nepal National Independent Students’ Union –Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) candidates were leading in the key posts at the Central Campus.
ANNISU-R candidate Himal Sharma who is also general secretary of the Maoist student union was leading in the post of president with 1470 votes. His nearest rival Anjan Lama of NSU had got 1114 votes and Bidur Subba of ANNFSU had received 987 votes, according to the election committee´s fresh announcement.
ANNISU-R candidates were also leading in other key posts including vice president, secretary, assistant secretary and treasurer. Ramesh Kumar Darji, ANNISU-R´s candidate for vice president, had got 1289 votes, Saroj Yadav of ANNFSU had received 1118 and Bharat Bhatta of NSU had received 1037 votes, the committee said.
Likewise, Manushi Yami Bhattarai, ANNISU-R´s candidate for secretary had received 1621 votes. Her closest rival Jivlal Kharel of NSU had got 1035 votes and Chiranjivi Poudel of ANNFSU was in third position with 875 votes.
Durga Devi Dhami of ANNISU-R had received 1383 votes for treasurer´s post. Bhagwan Das Yadav of NSU and Sirjana Dhakal of NSU were in second and third positions with 1072 and 986 votes, respectively.
For assistant secretary´s position, Manoj Kumar Yadav of ANNISU-R, Pritam Gurung of NSU and Damodar Ghimire of NSU had received 1273, 1199 and 1003 votes respectively.
Altogether 7,793 students had cast their votes in the FSU election at the campus on March 19. Counting of votes had been halted since March 20 due to disputes among the student unions. It resumed Saturday afternoon.
ANNFSU announces protest program in Pokhara
ANNFSU, the student wing of CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist) has decided to take to the street demanding immediate resumption of vote counting at Prithivi Narayan Campus, Pokhara.
Counting of votes for the FSU elections held on March 19 at the PN campus has been stalled since March 20, following disputes among the student unions.
The ANNFSU leaders at a press meet on Sunday threatened to resort to Pokhara banda (general strike) for indefinite period, among other protests. They announced to take to the street after several rounds of talks among the student unions and the campus authorities failed to reach a consensus.
The vote counting was stalled after counting of about 4,000 votes. Altogether 8,079 students had cast their votes in the peaceful FSU election at the campus.
ANNFSU accused the Maoist student wing, All Nepal National Independent Students Union-Revolutionary, of trying to disrupt the process by raising unreasonable issues.
PN campus is traditionally a stronghold of ANNFSU.
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