World News | Nepali Congress Delegates Vote Again to Choose Party President

Kathmandu, Dec 14 (PTI) The delegates of Nepal's largest democratic party, the Nepali Congress, voted for the second time on Tuesday to elect the party president after none of the five candidates, including Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, could secure more than 50 per cent of the total votes in the first round.

Incumbent NC president Deuba and senior leader Shekhar Koirala are pitted against each other after they secured 2,258 (48 per cent), and 1,702 (36 per cent) votes, respectively in the first round of voting, out of 4,679 votes cast. Seventy-six ballots were declared invalid in the election held on Monday.

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Deuba secured the first position in the party's election, but could not win the presidential election as the votes he secured were less than 50 per cent of the total votes cast during the 14th general convention of the party.

To be elected president, a candidate must secure 50 per cent plus one vote. If no one gets 50 per cent plus one vote in the first and second rounds of voting, then the two candidates with highest votes will contest a round among themselves, according to party rules.

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A total of 4,564 votes were cast when the second phase of elections to elect the new party president concluded at 9.30 pm, party sources said.

The counting is likely to start late at night and the result is expected to be announced early Wednesday.

In the last convention held in March 2016, Deuba had won in a run-off.

In the first round of voting, Prakash Man Singh secured 371 votes and Bimalendra Nidhi secured 250 votes, respectively. The fifth candidate Kalyan Gurung obtained 22 votes.

Singh, Nidhi and Gurung have decided to throw their weight behind Deuba, who is likely to make a comeback.

While Deuba needs less than 100 votes, Koirala needs over 500 votes to win.

The grand old party is electing 13 office bearers - president, two vice presidents, two general secretaries, eight joint general secretaries and 121 Central Working Committee members.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)