NSU to elect its new leadership today

Aug 17, 2016- The Nepal Students’ Union, a sister organisation of Nepali Congress, is all set to elect its new leadership and central body after nearly a decade on Wednesday.The polls will open from 7am to 7pm at the party’s headquarters in Sanepa. Electronic voting machines are being used to cast and count the ballots.
This is the first NSU convention since the 2007 unification of the NC faction, led by incumbent President Sher Bahadur Deuba, with the mother party, then headed by Girija Prasad Koirala. After a gap of nearly 10 years, the 11th general convention of the NSU kicked off on August 4.Following an agreement on the voters’ list between senior NC leaders--which had prolonged the convention, a party faction led by senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel filed its official candidates on Tuesday afternoon.
Manoj Acharya is contesting for the presidency while Himal Dutta Shrestha and Deepak Bhattarai are vying for the general secretary posts.
Along with Acharya, two others filed their nominations--Anand Tripathi and Padam Raj Panta--for presidency on Tuesday. Tripathi is also said to be from the Poudel-led faction.
As many as 685 people filed their nominations for various office bearer positions of the NSU central body.
There are eight president aspirants, five general secretary hopefuls and four Treasurer nominations.
On Monday, five president aspirants--Nain Singh Mahar, Subha Ram Basnet, Laxman Acharya, Nagen Singh Thakuri and Bachchan Karki--filed their nominations for the NSU leadership.
Mahar is the official candidate from the establishment side. Jit Jung Basnet, another aspirant from the establishment, is also supporting Mahar’s quest for leadership.
 From the establishment side, Saroj Thapa and Kundan Kafle are contesting for the general secretary post. Kafle is considered close to NC leaders Krishna Prasad Sitaula and Gagan Thapa.
Sitaula and Thapa had formed a separate alliance during the NC general convention in March.
After almost a decade-long hiatus, the student wing of Nepali Congress, Nepal Students’ Union, is electing its president and central working body, a nursery for future leaders of the party, on Wednesday. The Post caught up with two president aspirants: Nain Singh Mahar and Manoj Acharya, one from the establishment side and the other from senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel-led faction, to ask about their future roles in the NSU and overall politics in general.