By Dipak Shrestha/Saligram Nepal

Chitwan, Dec. 1: CPN-UML chairman KP Sharma Oli has been re-elected as the party chairman for the second term defeating his rival Bhim Bahadur Rawal in the 10th National Congress.
Oli secured his win over rival leader Rawal maintaining a lead of 1,614 votes. He won the poll by a landslide against Rawal.

According to the final poll result, Oli garnered 1,837 votes while Rawal received 223 votes. But still Rawal has been elected as the party central committee member.
Chairman of the Election Commission, Dr. Vijay Subba informed that Rawal has been elected as a party central committee member because according to the provision of the party statute, the candidates of the office bearers would automatically be nominated for the candidacy of central committee member.

Likewise, 18 other office bearers have been elected from the National Congress of which 13 were elected through the poll and the rest unopposed.
Leader Ishwar Pokhrel and Shanker Pokharel have been elected unanimously to the post of senior vice-chairman and general secretary respectively, while Pradeep Gyawali has been elected deputy-general secretary and Prithivi Subba Gurung and Bishnu Rimal party secretaries unopposed.

Similarly, Astalaxmi Shakya, Surendra Pandey, Subash Chandra Nembang, Bishnu Poudel, Yubaraj Gyawali and Ram Bahadur Thapa ‘Badal’ have been elected as party vice-chairmen through the poll.
Leaders Bhim Acharya and Tanka Karki, who registered their candidacies for the post of party secretary, have lost the election. Among elected vice-chairmen, Shakya garnered the highest vote of 1,976, while Badal gained the lowest, 1,768.

Leader Ghanashyam Bhusal, who had filed his candidacy for the post of vice-chairman, has been defeated with 725 votes.
Likewise, Yogesh Bhattarai, Raghubir Mahaseth, Gokarna Bista, Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Chhabilal Biswakarma, Lekhraj Bhatta and Padma Aryal have been elected as party secretaries. Of them, Bista received the highest vote with 1,976, while Mahaseth received lowest votes of 1,513 . Similarly, the National Congress has elected a 301-member central committee.
Though chairman Oli tried to impose his decision on the selection of office bearers and leadership without holding an election, his attempts failed after some disgruntled leaders, including Bhim Rawal, opposed the idea calling it undemocratic.

But still Oli managed to get re-elected as the party chair.
Despite the election, the 10th National Congress had elected 19-member office bearers as Oli had wished. All their names were proposed by Oli earlier.
Meanwhile, the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected office bearers and central committee members took place in Chitwan. The first meeting of the new central committee will also be held in Chitwan.
Of 2,153 delegates, 2,096 had cast the votes, while 57 were absent. Looking at the poll results, it was found that 33 delegates had cast 'No vote' for the post of chairman.

Lal Babu Pandit, an office bearer aspirant, had left for Kathmandu expressing his dissatisfaction as his name was not included in the list of office bearers.
The National Congress was supposed to end on Sunday after electing the new leadership for the next five years. But the congress continued for four-day after Oli and his close confidantes failed to end the jamboree on a unanimous note and the congress took a course of poll to settle the issue.