Oli retains control over Party, sweeps poll

Kathmandu Dec 18 –  K P Sharma Oli has been elected Chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist for the third Consecutive term comfortably defeating Ishwar Pokharel in a straight contest. Oli secured 1663 votes against 564 by Pokharel.

Oli’s panel also swept the organisational poll that took place nearly 16 weeks after his government’s collapse as an outcome of the Genz protest against corruption , and the excessive use of force by the government resulting in the loss of about 76 protestors’ lives.

Along with Oli, his loyalist  Shankar Pokharel won the race for Party General Secretary’s post defeating Surendra Pandey, the lone challenger, by a margin of 229 votes.

The final official figure released officially by the party show that Prithvi Subba Gurung , Bishnu Poudel , Ram Bahadur Thapa Badal , Raghu JI Pant and Gokarna Bista have been elected as the Party Vice Chairpersons. Except Bista, all are Oli loyalists.

Similarly, Lekhraj Bhatta, Raghubir Mahaseth and Yogesh Bhattarai have won the Under Secretary General’s post where as Sherdhan Rai, Padma Aryal , Mahesh Basent , Chhabilal Vishwakarma , Hikmat Karki , Khagaraj Adhikary , Rajan Bhattarai , Yam Lal Kadel and Bhanubhakta Dhakal have been elected as the new Secretaries of the Party.