Pokhara, Jan. 21: Sujata Koirala’s nomination as a candidate of the Nepali Congress Central Working Committee (CWC) has been annuled along with two others after protest was lodged against their candidacies. The other two whose applications were also rejected are Ramchandra Tiwari and Surya Prasad Regmi.

A notice of the Election Committee said the candidacies of Ms. Koirala and the other two have been invalidated according to the party’s statute of 2017 and the amendments made to it in 2051 B.S. and 2054 B.S. after protests were made against their applications.

Similarly, twenty-one persons have pulled out from the race of the CWC election. According to the final list of candidates there will be three candidates for the party president and 66 persons in the race for the 18 elected seats of the new CWC.

Those who have withdrawn their names are: Surendra Prasad Chaudhary, Basanta Kumar Gurung, Ananda Prasad Dhungana, Ramchandra Pokharel, Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta, Shesh Nath Adhikary, Home Nath Dahal, Uddhav Dahal, Dr. Ram Prasad Gyanwali, Rabindra Lal Shrestha, Trilokya Pratap Sen, Mangal Prasad Gupta, Mahendra Raj Tiwari, Ang Gyalzen Sherpa Sunil Kumar Bhandari, Gopal Narayan Bhattachan, Omkar Shrestha, Krishna Kumar Joshi, Kamal Chitrakar and Bidur Poudel.

Meanwhile, the annulment of the candidacy of the Prime Minister’s daughter was the most talked about issue among the convention delegates and others.

According to sources close to Sujata Koirala, the protest against her was made by Prakash Koirala, Nona Koirala and Shailaja Acharya.

The applications of Tiwari and Regmi were rejected because they stood as renegade candidates in the 2051 mid-term election and were suspended from the party. Later, they were reinstated but that does not fulfill the condition of 10 years of continuous active membership of the party.

According to Laxman Prasad Ghimire, a member of the Election Committee, the election regulation states only those, who have been active members of the party uninterruptedly since the party’s 8th General Convention at Kalbalgudi, could become the member of the party’s Central Working Committee.

He, however, said this rule does not apply to become the members of the Mahasamiti.

The time for the withdrawal of the candidacy was extended by two hours from 3 P.M. today to 5 P. M. and the final list of the candidates was announced at 6 P.M.

The election for party’s president and the CWC members will be held from 9 A. M. to 1 P.M. tomorrow and the results of the election are expected the same day.

Party spokesman said today at a press briefing that the counting could take more time than was estimated with the long list of the candidates and there will be as much as 18 names to be counted from each ballot paper.

Meanwhile, speculations are rife about who will win. Although there are no panels overtly but some convention delegates feel the voters could split into panels during the voting.

FINAL LIST OF CONTESTANTS

For Party President: 1. Girija Prasad Koirala, 2.Sher Bahadur Deuba 3.Ramhari Joshi

For CWC Members

Ms. Ambika Basnet, Amar Raj Kaini, Arjun Jung Bahadur Singh, Arjun Narsingh K.C., Aditya Raj Gyanwali, Rishikesh Gautam, Krishna Kishore Sharma, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Krishna Lal Sapkota, Khum Bahadur Khadka, Gopal Man Shrestha, Govinda Raj Joshi, Chakra Prasad Bastola, Chandra Bhandari, Chiranjibi Wagle, Jit Tshering Lama, Dhundi Raj Shastri, Taranath Ranabhat, Damodar Gautam, Deepak Prakash Banskota, Durga Keshar Khanal, Narahari Acharya, N.P. Saud, Padma Narayan Chaudhary, Prakash Man Singh, Prakash Koirala, Dr. Prakashsharan Mahat, Pradeep Giri, Pushkar Nath Ojha, Purna Bahadur Khadka, Formulla Mansoor, Bhakat Bahadur Shahi, Bal Bahadur K.C., Bal Bahadur Rai, Bhagwat Gyanwali, Bhim Bahadur Tamang, Bhu Bikram Nembang, Manmohan Bhattarai, Mahanta Thakur, Mahesh Acharya, Maheshwor Prasad Singh, Ms. Meena Pandey, Ms. Maiya Devi Shrestha, Mohan Bahadur Basnet, Rajendra Kharel, Ram Krishna Tamrakar, Ramchandra Poudel, Ramdayal Yadav, Dr. Ram Baran Yadav, Dr. Ramsharan Mahat, Dr. Rudra Pratap Shah, Laxmi Narayan Neupane, Mrs. Lila Koirala, Baldev Sharma Majgainya, Bijay Kumar Gachhedhar, Binay Dhoj Chand, Bipin Koirala, Bimalendra Nidhi, Bishnu Prasad Sharma, Shiva Bahadur Khadka, Ms. Shailaja Acharya, Sukra Raj Sharma, Sukra Raj Samyog ‘Limbu’, Siddha Raj Ojha, Sushil Koirala, Sury Bhakta Adhikary.