KATHMANDU, Dec 14: Leaders Prakashman Singh and Bimalendra Nidhi, two of the five candidates for Nepali Congress (NC) President in the first round of elections at the party’s 14th General Convention, have announced their support to another presidential candidate and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.  

According to leader Singh, he decided to extend his support to Deuba after a meeting held at his private residence in Chaksibari on Tuesday morning. The two leaders agreed to run the party as per the party statute and address all weaknesses seen in the party. 

Similarly, Bimalendra Nidhi also assured Deuba of his support, hours before the second round of voting for the post of party president that is being held today. Deuba had reached Nidhi’s residence in Baneshwar to solicit his support. 

It may be noted that the vote for the party's new president is taking place again later today as none of the presidential candidates were able to secure the requisite 51 percent of the total votes. Preparations are being made to conduct the voting again from 3:30PM today.

During the first round of the election held on Monday, Prime Minister and incumbent president Deuba secured 2,258 votes while his nearest rival Dr Shekhar Koirala secured 1,702 votes.  Likewise, Singh got 371 votes followed by 250 by Bimalendra Nidhi and 22 votes by Kalyan Gurung. A total of five candidates were in the race for the post of party president. 

A total of 4,679 voters out of 4,743 took part in the voting and 76 ballots were declared invalid. 

As per the party statute, a candidate must secure over 50 percent of the total votes to win the Party President post and if no candidate gets the required votes in the first round of the election, voting is conducted among the two highest competitors and the one getting more votes wins the election. 

 
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