Kathmandu: Voting to elect new leadership under the 11th General Convention of the CPN-UML concluded after nearly 22 hours on Thursday morning. The polling, which began at 9:15 am on Wednesday at Bhrikutimandap, ended at 7:45 am on Thursday.

According to the party’s Central Election Commission, 2,227 votes were cast out of a total of 2,263 eligible voters, marking a turnout of 98.4 percent. A total of 36 representatives did not participate in the voting process.

The Election Commission stated that several members of different party commissions were absent during voting. Among them were Central Committee members Mukunda Neupane, Basanta Nembang, Balkrishna Kauchha Magar, Brijesh Gupta, Rajkumar Gupta and Hari Bahadur Rajbanshi. Likewise, Samir Nepal and Rachana Rajopadhyay from the Election Commission, as well as members of the Disciplinary and Accounts Commissions, were also absent.

In addition, a number of general convention representatives from various districts, including Jhapa, Bara, Siraha, Parsa, Saptari, Mahottari, Gulmi and others, did not cast their votes.

UML Election Commission Secretary Dr Kunsang Lama said that vote counting would begin around 10 am on Thursday. As electronic voting machines were used, the counting process is expected to be completed quickly.

Despite the use of electronic voting, the prolonged voting period raised questions. Reports indicated that some voters took up to three hours to complete the voting process, causing long queues and forcing representatives to wait throughout the night. It was also reported that party chair KP Sharma Oli himself took nearly an hour to cast his vote.

The main contest for the party’s top leadership is between Chairperson KP Sharma Oli and senior leader Ishwor Pokharel.