The Nepali Congress (NC) Central Election Committee has officially made public the preliminary list of candidates contesting for key leadership roles at the party’s 15th General Convention.
According to the election schedule, 79 candidates have registered their nominations to compete for 19 elected office-bearer positions. Under the updated party statute, the Nepali Congress will have a total of 24 office bearers, consisting of:
- 1 President
- 4 Vice Presidents (including 1 Senior Vice President)
- 3 General Secretaries
- 15 Joint General Secretaries
- 1 Treasurer
Because the party statute empowers the elected President to nominate four Joint General Secretaries and the Treasurer, elections will take place for the remaining 19 positions.
Candidates by Office-Bearer Position
Party President (1 Position)
Three candidates have entered the race for the party’s top executive office:
- Gagan Thapa (Incumbent President)
- Kishore Singh Rathore (Former Joint General Secretary)
- Shyam Krishna Khadgi (Former Regional President)
Senior Vice President (1 Position)
- Bishwa Prakash Sharma is the sole candidate registered on the preliminary list.
Vice Presidents
- Open Vice President (2 Positions): 10 candidates have filed nominations, including Govinda Bhattarai, Dr. Chandrakant Bhandari, Prof. Dr. Chandramohan Yadav, Deepak Giri, Devraj Chalise, Dhanraj Gurung, Madhu Acharya, Dr. Minendra Prasad Rijal, Surendraraj Pandey, and one additional candidate listed by the committee.
- Women’s Vice President (1 Position): Pushpa Bhusal.
- Inclusive Vice President (1 Position): Jeevan Pariyar, Farmullah Mansur, Binod Kumar Chaudhary, Ranjit Karna, and Sita Gurung.
General Secretaries
- Open General Secretary (2 Positions): Amarsingh Pun, Udaya Shumsher Rana, Gururaj Ghimire, Nainsingh Mahar, Pradeep Poudel, Dr. Sunil Sharma, and Dr. Santosh Upadhyay.
- Women’s General Secretary (1 Position): Dr. Dila Sangraula Pant, Mahalaxmi Upadhyay (Dina), and Rita Khanal.
Key Nominations for Joint General Secretary Positions
A large pool of candidates is competing across various open and cluster-reserved Joint General Secretary categories:
| Category | Candidates |
| Open | Ajay Babu Shiwakoti, Amrit Kumar Aryal, Devendra Kandel, Dinesh Koirala, Dilliram Subedi, Bikash Koirala, Bimal Raj Chhetri, Ramesh Prasad Dhamala, Ramhari Khatiwada, Rajiv Dhungana |
| Women | Nanu Bastola, Pratima Gautam |
| Dalit | Narendra Paswan, Prakash Rasaili Snehi, Man Bahadur Nepali, Laxmi Pariyar |
| Madhesi | Ajay Kumar Chaurasia, Abhishek Pratap Shah, Kiran Yadav, Nagina Yadav, Manish Kumar Mishra, Mahendra Yadav, Muktakumari Yadav, Rampaltan Shah |
| Khas Arya | Jagadishwar Narsingh KC, Manoj Mani Acharya, Shubha Ram Basnet |
| Tharu | Tejulal Chaudhary, Yogendra Chaudhary, Surendra Prasad Chaudhary |
| Muslim | Athar Kamal Musalman, Abdul Sattar, Dr. Firdos Alam |
| Backward Region | Jiwan Bahadur Shahi, Karna Bahadur Budha, Janak Raj Giri, Ram Bahadur Bista, Narayan Prasad Bhattarai, Min Bahadur Bham, Rajan Kunwar |
| Minorities / Persons with Disabilities | Angelu Sherpa, Nagendra Kumar Kumal, Babukrishna Sapkota, Yogesh Gauchan Thakali |
Next Steps in the Election Process
Beyond the office-bearer categories, a significant number of party leaders have also registered nominations for Central Working Committee (CWC) membership.
Election Committee Member Secretary Raju Katuwal stated that candidates or representatives wishing to file objections against any name on the preliminary list must do so within the designated window from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM today, following the standard election procedures.
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