KATHMANDU, Feb 24: As the counting of votes at the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist)´s eighth general convention venue nears completion, erstwhile party general secretary Jhala Nath Khanal and his ally Ishwar Pokharel are close to victory. Khanal is going to become party chairman and Pokharel is close to winning the second powerful post of party general secretary.
According to the latest vote count tally (as of 6 p.m.), Khanal has secured 834 votes against his rival KP Sharma Oli´s 730. Seven votes were invalid. [break]
Altogether 1,783 CPN-UML delegates had cast their ballots to elect the top party leadership – one chairman, three vice-chairs, one general secretary, three secretaries and 115 central committee members – on Sunday. Earlier, election officials had said 1793 votes had been cast. The party had gone to the poll after the leaders failed to come up with a consensus candidate for the post of party chairman.
Except for once Monday evening, Khanal has been ahead all along. Both the leaders had said on Monday that they were confident of their win. Talking to journalists earlier on Tuesday, Khanal said his win was 100 percent confirmed. “It’s just a question of the margin of victory – whether it will be in double digit or in triple,” he said. Khanal also said that he met Oli in the morning and discussed taking the party forward by ensuring internal democracy. Oli told journalists he was "tricked" at the last moment and he will disclose it after the final results are out.
As the convention, which was to wrap up on February 21 had it gone as planned, has already been delayed by three days, journalists covering the convention have started leaving the venue. Most of them have left by Tuesday, leaving only about 10 (who had gone there from Kathmandu to cover the UML convention) there, according to Dipendra Poudel of Nepal One television. More than 60 journalists had gone to Butwal to cover the event last week.
The party´s election committee is expected to announce the winner of the top party post (chairman) by Tuesday night. However, it will continue to count votes for central committee members.
Among the other leaders vying for the top post, Ishwar Pokharel is way ahead of Pradip Nepal for the post of general secretary with a margin of 196 votes. Pokharel has secured 860 votes. For the post of three vice-chairs, Ashok Rai is leading the race with 1095 votes, while Bidya Bhandari has got 786 and Bam Dev Gautam 813. Bhim Rawal, Sahana Pradhan and Bharat Mohan Adhikari are way behind.
For the post of secretary, Bishnu Poudel is nearing his victory with 1153 votes. Following Poudel are Shankar Pokharel with 986 votes and Yubaraj Gyawali 688.
For the central committee members, Yogesh Bhattarai is ahead in the Kathmandu Valley Zone, Devi Prasad Gyawali in Narayani Zone, Naresh Kharel in Mechi, Ganesh Timilsina in Dhaulagiri, Dev Raj Bhar in Bheri, Bhanubhakta Joshi in Seti, Khagaraj Adhikari in Gandaki, Keshav Prasad Devkota in Janakpur, Rajendra Gautam in Koshi and Pashupati Chaulagain in Bagmati Zone.
tilak@myrepublica.com
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