NC district-level elections start in 65 districts

KATHMANDU, Feb 8: Polls to elect district level leaders of the Nepali Congress (NC) started across the country on Monday. According to the party, district-level conventions in 65 districts started Monday.

The largest party in parliament is holding district level elections after concluding local conventions to elect delegates from village and electoral constituencies for participation in the NC general convention scheduled for March first week.

The district conventions are electing district presidents, secretaries, treasurers and district committee members for four year terms. In most districts, competition has surfaced between the Sushil Koirala-led establishment faction of the party and the Sher Bahadur Deuba-led faction. Some districts have also witnessed two or more candidates from the establishment faction.
According to party central election committee member Gopal Krishna Gimire, five districts have elected their district presidents unopposed. Four districts have decided to go for second round elections after none of the candidates failed to secure even 50 percent of the vote.
As of late evening Monday, results from more than a dozen districts have arrived. The results show mixed fortunes for both the establishment and Deuba factions. Krishna KC in Kaski, Ramesh Dhamla in Dhading, Madhu Acharya in Kavre, Nandamani Rai in Bhojpur, Rajib Koirala in Sunsari and Indra Bahadur Baniya in Makwanpur have been elected district presidents. Similarly Ujwal Baral in Sindhuli, Naresh Kumar Shrestha in Khotang, Karna Malla in Dadheldhura and Kamalraj Regmi in Surket have made it to district president, securing majority votes.
Elections in the protest affected Tarai-Madhes districts and some other districts have been scheduled within this week.

Unopposed leadership in 5 districts
While most of the districts picked their leaderships through voting between two or more candidates, five districts nominated the district presidents unopposed. Jhapa, Palpa, Arghakanchi, Baitadi and Manang picked their district presidents unopposed on Monday. Uddab Thapa in Jhapa, Tek Bahadur Gurung in Manang, Bishnu Muskan in Arghakanchi, Narendra Singh Thapa in Baitdai and Birbahadur Rana in Palpa were elected unopposed.

Second round voting in few districts
With no candidate failing to secure 50 percent of the vote, a few districts have decided to go for a second round to choose between two candidate garnering the most votes. Article 10 of the party statute has a mandatory provision for holding a second round vote if no candidate fails to secure at least 50 percent of the vote in the first round.
Second round voting in Lalitpur between Madan Amatya and Jitendra Shrestha has been scheduled for Tuesday. Similarly, Jeet Narayan Shrestha and Dinesh Koirala were to compete in a second round in Chitwan district later on Monday. Sanjay Gautam and Bidhya Khanal are contesting a second round in Baidiya on Tuesday. In Lamjung, Bhesh Bahadur Paudel and Takraj Gurung are set for a second round Tuesday.
Elections in a few districts have been deferred to urge some candidates to withdraw. Elections in Kathmandu, Gorkha and Kanchanpur, where three or four candidates are vying, have been postponed for Tuesday.
18 districts getting new leadership
With the party statute barring leaders who have had two consecutive terms as district president from repeating another term, 18 districts are getting new district presidents. Dhankuta, Morang, Khotang, Kavre, Sindhupalchowk, Bara, Kapilvastu and Dhanusha and among the districts getting new leaderships.

Convention deferred in Sindhupalchowk, Dolakha
Conventions in Sindhupakchowk and Dolakha districts were deferred in the last hour following disputes and other issues. The convention in Sindhupalchowk was deferred after the election committee decided at the last hour to hold it at Chautara instead of Bahrabise. Similarly, the convention in Dolakha stalled following a dispute between the two factions.