BUTWAL, Feb 21: The election for the chairman and other top posts of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) has been put off until noon Sunday to allow campaigning and canvassing of votes. As per the earlier schedule, the election was to begin at 8 a.m. and completed in two hours.
The two main contenders for the top post of chairman of the CPN-UML -- Jhala Nath Khanal and KP Sharma Oli -- and the third man, Subodh Pyakurel, filed their candidacy papers for the election of party chairman.
| Post | Candidates | |||
| Chairman | Jhala Nath Khanal | KP Sharma Oli | Subodh Pyakurel | |
| Vice-chairman | Bam Dev Gautam, Sahana Pradhan | Ashok Rai, Bhim Rawal, Bidhya Bhandari | Bharat Mohan Adhikari (swing candidate) | |
| General Secretary | Ishwar Pokharel | Pradip Nepal | ||
| Secretary | Ram Chandra Jha, Surendra Pandey, Yubaraj Gyawali, Rajendra Shrestha | Bishnu Poudel, Shankar Pokharel, Raghubir Mahaseth | ||
Earlier, the election committee of the CPN-UML’s eighth general convention made public the election schedule to choose the top leaders, Saturday evening. According to the schedule, the six-day convention has been extended by at least a day.
Though candidacy for the post of chairman by Khanal and Oli was a foregone conclusion, Pyakurel, who is also a president of a human rights NGO called INSEC (Informal Sector Service Center), despite having no chance at all of winning the coveted post, also came to the fray at the eleventh hour. Pyakurel said his candidacy was a sign of protest against the leaders´ failure to come up with a consensus candidate for the coveted post of chairman. Senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal has reportedly thrown his weight behind Oli.
The election committee had published the voters´ list at 5:30 p.m. The list has 1820 names. The UML delegates registered their candidacies for the Central Committee and the top leadership positions (chairman, vice-chairman, general secretary and secretary) between 5:45 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Saturday. They are given until 9 p.m. to withdraw their candidacies. The election committee will publish the final list of the voters at 10:00 p.m. Saturday. Voting will start at 8:00 a.m. and end at 10:00 a.m. Sunday. Vote count will begin at 11 a.m.
Those vying for the central leadership positions can withdraw their candidacies by 8:00 a.m. Sunday. This means all doors to come up with a consensus candidate for the top job of chairman and other office-bearers is not shut until Sunday morning. So, the leaders will be exercising for consensus till the last moment.
There are six candidates for three positions of vice-chair: Bam Dev Gautam, Sahana Pradhan, Bharat Mohan Adhikari, Ashok Rai, Bhim Rawal and Bidhya Bhandari. Gautam and Pradhan are close to Khanal, while the rest except Adhikari are close to Oli. Adhikari is considered a swing candidate.
Candidates for the position of general secretary are Ishwar Pokharel and Pradip Nepal, the former being close to Khanal. Likewise, Surendra Pandey, Yubaraj Gyawali, Rajendra Shrestha, Ram Chandra Jha, Bishnu Poudel, Shankar Pokharel and Raghubir Mahaseth have filed their candidacies for the three positions of secretary. Another senior leader, Amrit Bohora, has given his candidacy for the chief of the discipline committee of the party.
More than 400 candidates have filed their candidacy for the 115-member central committee.
Earlier in the day, UML´s head of the publicity wing, Ishwar Pokharel, told a daily briefing to the press that voting will be done simultaneously for the central committee and office-bearers. He said the leaders are free to file candidacies for both the central committee and top leadership.
Election might split party: Madhav Nepal
Senior leader of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) Madhav Kumar Nepal has warned that the party may split if the ongoing general convention of the party elected office bearers through direct vote and not through consensus.
“The election of the leadership may bring split in the party,” said Nepal, who had remained silent on the issue till now. “There is no alternative to consensus.”
Even if he was elected chairman of the party through direct vote, he said, “I might win, but the party will lose”. “There should be a consensus (on the leadership) to ensure victory for both the sides,” the former UML chief said after coming out from the hall of the closed-door session of the convention.
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