All 19 leaders proposed for office-bearers by KP Sharma Oli have been elected in the 10th general convention held in Chitwan.
Ishwar Pokharel was elected senior vice-chair, Shankar Pokharel general secretary, and Pradeep Gyawali, Prithvi Subba Gurung and Bishnu Rimal deputy general secretaries unopposed while party chair, six vice-chairs and seven secretaries have been elected defeating those who contested against the candidates listed by Oli on Tuesday.
Oli—who was empowered to pick the consensus list of 19 office-bearers, 301 central committee members and chairmen of different commissions by the closed session of the general convention on Saturday—beat Bhim Rawal in the election for party chair.
Bishnu Paudel, Subash Chandra Nembang, Ram Bahadur Thapa, Surendra Pandey, Yubaraj Gyawali and Ashta Laxmi Shakya have all been elected vice chairs while Ghanashyam Bhusal, who challenged the consensus list finished well behind the six.
Bhim Acharya and Tanka Karki, who had contested for secretary, also lost to the seven leaders proposed by Oli. Oli's picks Gokarna Bista, Yogesh Bhattarai, Padma Aryal, Chhabi Lal Bishwokarma, Lekh Raj Bhatta, Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, and Raghubir Mahaseth all emerged victorious.
Nine of the 19 have been elected UML office-bearer for the first time. The first-timers include Pandey, Nembang, Thapa, Rimal, Aryal, Bishwokarma, Bhatat, Rayamajhi and Mahaseth.
Meanwhile, Mahaseth has become the first Madhesi and Bishwokarma the first dalit to be elected UML office-bearer.
