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Kathmandu, Dec 15: The 11th General Convention of the CPN UML is underway at Bhrikutimandap, with the election process starting today.

Incumbent party chair KP Sharma Oli and senior vice chair Ishwar Pokhrel are competing for the new leadership. Both leaders have entered the race with full panels, finalising their candidates for vice chair, deputy general secretary, and secretary positions.

In Oli’s panel, Shankar Pokhrel is set to continue as general secretary. The names finalised for vice chair are Bishnu Paudel, Ram Bahadur Thapa Badal, Guru Baral, and Prithvi Subba Gurung. Although Pradeep Gyawali has been included in the vice chair list by the Oli group, his candidacy has not yet been fully confirmed.

For deputy general secretary, the Oli faction has finalised Bishnu Rimal, Lekharaj Bhatt, and Raghubir Mahaseth. Sources said the names confirmed for the nine secretary posts are Sherdhan Rai, Hikmat Karki, Rajan Bhattarai, Mahesh Basnet, Khagaraj Adhikari, Padma Aryal, Chhabilal Bishwakarma, Yamlal Kandel, and Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal.

Ishwar Pokhrel has also completed his panel. In his group, Surendra Pandey has been finalised as the candidate for general secretary. For vice chair, Gokarna Bista, Parashuram Meghi Gurung, Binda Pandey, and Arun Nepal are set to contest.

Yogesh Bhattarai has been confirmed as a deputy general secretary candidate from the Pokhrel panel, with Baijnath Chaudhary also included on the list. For the secretary, sources said the names of Rachana Khadka, Binod Dhakal, Karn Thapa, Thakur Gaire, Indralal Sapkota, and Purushottam Paudel are close to being finalised. The Pokhrel faction has also included Krishna Gopal Shrestha and Gokul Baskota in its list of secretary candidates.

According to the election schedule, all procedural work will be completed today. Voting is set for Tuesday, Poush 1, from 11 am to 6 pm. The preliminary list of candidates will be made public at 2.30 pm, followed by a one-hour window for filing complaints, from 2.30 pm to 3.30 pm. After reviewing complaints and completing related procedures, the final list of candidates will be published at 6 pm this evening.

People’s News Monitoring Service