According to the final results announced late Wednesday afternoon by the election committee of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), about 38 Oli loyalists were elected to the 115-member committee as were 37 Khanal-faithfuls. About 30 others are trusted by both leaders.
All those who lost the race for top leadership positions have made it into the central committee with large numbers of votes. Former general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, who is one of many trusted by both Khanal and Oli, has secured the highest number of votes – 1,416. Altogether 1,783 UML delegates had cast their ballots at the CPN-UML´s eighth national convention in Butwal on Sunday. KP Oli has secured the second highest number of votes – 1,313.
Pradip Nepal, an Oli loyalist who was defeated by Ishwar Pokharel for the post of general secretary, won 1,214 votes and secured a berth in the central committee. Others – Bharat Mohan Adhikari, Sahana Pradhan, Bhim Rawal, Raghubir Mahaseth, Ram Chandra Jha and Rajendra Shrestha, who lost the race for party office – also secured berths in the central committee with respectable numbers of votes. All of them except Rajendra Shretha were candidates supported by both Khanal and Oli camps for the CC.
Others supported by the Oli camp getting the CC berth in open competition are Pradip Gyawali, Prithvi Subba Gurung, Beduram Bhusal, Krishna Gopal Shrestha, Agni Kharel, Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal, Binda Pandey and Guru Baral are among nine candidates backed by Oli. Other 10 candidates backed only by Khanal have also secured their seat in the CC. Among them are Kiran Gurung, Gokarna Bista, Dr Bijay Kumar Poudel, Rakam Chemjong, Rajendra Prasad Pandey and Surendra Prasad Pandey. However, others like Kashi Nath Adhikari, Rajan Bhattarai, Bachaspati Devkota and Som Prasad Pandey, who were backed by Oli, couldn´t win the CC berth.
Under the Zonal representation, nine and five members elected to the CC are loyal to Khanal and Oli respectively. However, there are only two Oli loyalists in the 8-member top leadership -- Bidhya Bhandari (vice-chair and Shankar Pokharel (secretary). Ashok Rai (vice-chair) and Bishnu Poudel (secretary) were backed by both Khanal and Oli.
tilak@myrepublica.com
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