NC heads for run off to pick party president

Kathmandu / March 7: As none of the party president candidates garnered 50 per cent votes in the elections of the Nepali Congress (NC)’s ongoing 13th National Convention, the NC is headed for run off as per the party statute to pick the party president.

As per the vote counts completed at 5:30 this morning, Sher Bahadur Deuba got 1,564 votes while Ram Chandra Poudel secured 1,152 votes in the presidential election. Likewise, third president candidate Krishna Prasad Sitaula obtained 324 votes.

President candidate Deuba failed to manage majority of the total votes cast just due to inadequacy of 11 ballots.

The NC Central Election Committee is preparing to hold the second round of poll to elect the party president after the election held on Sunday failed to elect the party president.

As per the party statute, Deuba and Poudel would vie for the party president in the second round while Sitaula is out of race for the presidency.

Committee secretary Jagannath Shrestha told RSS that the process for run off would be finalised after holding talks with the NC top leaders.

Of the total 3,148 votes cast, altogether 100 votes turned invalid, the Committee said. RSS