Jhala Nath Khanal has been elected Chair of CPN (UML) by the eighth General Convention of the party organised in Butwal from February 16.
CPN (UML) leader Jhal Nath Khanal.
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, 865 and 851 votes respectively. The other three contestants for the post Bhim Rawal, Sahana Pradhan and Bharat Mohan Adhikari secured 722, 618 and 600 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 defeated candidates Rajendra Shrestha, Raghubir Mahaseth and Ram Chandra Jha secured 672, 656 and 485 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 results for the election of Central Committee (CC) members has also been partly announced. The election for CC members was conducted as open contest, zonal and reserved quotas.
The candidates who have been elected CC members from the zonal contest are Naresh Kharel from Mechi (770 votes), Rajendra Gautam from Koshi (783 votes), Jagannath Khatiwada from Sagarmatha (905 votes), Keshab Prasad Devkota from Janakpur (658 votes), Devi Prasad Gyawali from Narayani (782 votes), Pashupati Chaulagain from Bagmati (868 votes), Yogesh Bhattarai from Kathmandu valley, Ganesh Timilsina from Dhaulagiri, Khaga Raj Adhikari from Gandaki, Prakash Jwala from Rapti, Deb Raj Bhar from Bheri, Dilli Bahadur Mahat from Karnali, Bhanu Bhakta Joshi from Seti and Jhillu Prasad Tiwari from Nepali diaspora in India.
Earlier, Netra Panthi and Urba Dutta Panta had been elected unopposed from Lumbini and Mahakali zones respectively.
Likewise, Ajambar Kambang, Kamal Prasad Sunuwar, Gokul Gharti Magar, Jiwan Ram Shrestha, Baidhya Nath Chaudhari Tharu and Bisham Lal Adhikari Danuwar have been elected alternate CC members from the aboriginal and ethnic communities quota.
Thakur Gaire has been elected alternate CC member from open contest.
Lalit Kumar Basnet had been elected full member and Chuda Mani Jungali has been elected alternate member from the reserved quota for peasants.
The results for the remaining seats is expected to be announced on Wednesday.
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 25 09