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Khanal elected Chairman of UML

Jhala Nath Khanal has been elected Chair of CPN (UML) by the eighth General Convention of the party organised in Butwal from February 16.

Khanal defeated Oli by a difference of more than 100 votes. Khanal secured 913 votes, while his opponent Oli secured 796 votes.

Likewise, Ishwar Pokhrel won the contest for General Secretary with 935 votes. His opponent Pradip Nepal secured 732 votes.

Ashok Rai, Bamdev Gautam and Bidhya Bhandari have been elected to the post of Vice-Chairpersons. Rai, Gautam and Bhandari secured 1199, 835 and 851 votes respectively.

Bishnu Poudel, Shanker Pokhrel and Yubaraj Gyawali have been elected to the post of Secretary. Poudel, Pokhrel and Gyawali secured 1262, 1058 and 835 votes respectively.

The election for eight key positions along with 111 Central Committee Members and two central commissions was held on Sunday after the attempt of leaders and party cadres to create a consensus for leadership failed.

The vote counting for the post of Central Committee members has not completed. Central committee members will comprise of candidates from open, zonal and reserved quotas.

Four candidates have been elected unopposed. Netra Panthi and Urba Dutta Panta have been elected unopposed from Lumbini and Mahakali zones respectively. Lalit Kumar Basnet has been elected full member and Chuda Mani Jungali has been elected alternate member from the reserved quota for peasants.

This is the first time UML leadership has been selected by election. The party had a history of choosing leadership by consensus.

The UML adopted a multi-post leadership with an executive Chairman for the first time in its history.

The amendment to the party statute endorsed by the General Convention has provision for a Chairman, three Vice-Chairmen, a General Secretary and three Secretaries.

The provision to elect the key positions of the Central Committee directly from the general convention was incorporated to the statute as proposed by Yubraj Gyawali through his supplementary paper.

Earlier the party had a ceremonial Chairman. However, the post had remained vacant ever since the death of erstwhile Party Chairman Man Mohan Adhikari on April 26, 1999. nepalnews.com ta Feb 24 09