Gulab Jung Shah of Salyan has been elected as the chairman of the first Karnali Province Convention of CPN (UML) held in Surkhet since Wednesday.
Shah, who is also a member of the UML politburo, won with 369 votes, defeating his nearest rival, Meen Bahadur Shahi of Kalikot.
Shahi got only 207 votes. Prakash Rokaya, another candidate for the president, got 4 votes.
Similarly, Tekraj of Jumla has won the post of vice chairman. He got 342 votes. His nearest rival Lal Bahadur Mahatara of Jajarkot got 176 votes and Dansingh Pariyar of Mugu got 59 votes.
Similarly, Dhruva Kumar Shahi of Surkhet won with 406 votes while Rudra Bahadur Shahi of Dailekh got 169 votes.
According to the circular of the party center, the election contest was held on Sunday after consensus could not be reached for the selection of leadership.
Oli stunned
With this result, Chairman Oli has suffered a shock in Karnali. Inaugurating the session, Oli instructed to elect the leadership unanimously. He wanted to make Meen Bahadur Shahi, the chairman's candidate, as the chairman unanimously.
Oli had, earlier, made Shahi a member of the National Planning Commission.
However, Shahi, who was with Oli, was defeated by a large number of votes during the election, which was not unanimous. Standing committee member Yamlal Kandel backed Gulab Jung, who was elected as the president. Therefore, the competition in Karnali was interpreted as a competition between Kandel and Oli.
With Shah's victory, Kandel has given the message to the party leadership that his hold on Karnali is intact.
Yamalal Kandel is a leader who is not liked by the central leadership in UML party politics. Kandel from Surkhet wanted to become party secretary from the 10th UML Convention.
The central leadership did not address the wishes of Kandel and Karnali. Kandel, who was in charge of the province at that time, was demoted to the division of the party and made Dailekh in charge, and Kandel was even more dissatisfied with the central leadership.
Party Secretary Lekhraj Bhatt is in charge of Karnali Province.
In 2074, Kandel, was in the race to become the Chief Minister of Karnali Province. In the 40-member Province Assembly, there were only 20 members from the UML. At that time, Kandel was the unopposed candidate for Chief Minister.
Who is President Shah?
Shah, who entered politics by joining ANNFSU in 2040, is currently in charge of the Politburo member of the party. In 2056 BS, he joined CPN (ML), which was formed after the split of the then CPN (UML), and became Salyan District Committee Secretary from the third session of UML.
In 2057, Shah became a member of the central secretariat of the then Youth Union Nepal, and in 2066 he became a member of the zonal committee of CPN (UML). He was elected as a central member of the 9th General Convention of UML.
Shah is a leader who entered parliamentary politics for the first time from Salyan-1 (B) on behalf of the left alliance formed with the then CPN (Maoist) in 2074.
Shah, who was the chief whip of the UML parliamentary party, was also the chief whip of the then CPN.
