Vote count for NC general secy over, Thapa secures 64 pc votes

KATHMANDU: Vote count for the general secretary of the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) has been over. 

According to the party’s election committee, Gagan Thapa secured the highest of 3,023 votes among the six candidates. Thapa was fielded as the candidate by the Shekhar Koirala panel. Koirala, however, lost the two rounds of presidential elections to Sher Bahadur Deuba. 

Bishwo Prakash Sharma has also been elected one of two general secretaries securing a total of 1,984 votes. Sharma, who is also the party spokesperson, contested the election on behalf of the Prakash Man Singh panel. 

Both the candidates from the Deuba panel --- Prakash Sharan Mahat and Pradeep Poudel --- however, lost the election. While Mahat secured 1,556 votes, Poudel got the fourth highest votes of 1,393. 

Minendra Rijal, the candidate fielded by the Koirala panel, also lost the race. He got 809 votes against Raja Ram Karki’s 106. Karki belongs to the Bimalendra Nidhi camp. 

Meanwhile, Rijal announced his resignation as the Minister for Defence following the preliminary vote count results.