The Congress will elect 121 Central Working Committee from the ongoing 14th general convention that kicked off in Kathmandu on Friday.

Counting of votes for Central Working Committee members is underway. Congress’ Deuba group wins eight of 13 office bearer positions.

Of the eight joint general secretaries elected, six are from the establishment side led by Sher Bahadur Deuba, who won the party president post on Tuesday by defeating Shekhar Koirala in a runoff.

Newly-elected joint general secretaries Jivan Pariyar and Badri Pande are from the Koirala panel.

From the pro-establishment Deuba panel, Bhisma Raj Aangdambe (Janajati), Mahalaxmi Upadhyay Dina (Women), Farmullah Mansoor (Muslim) and Mahendra Yadav (Madhesi), Kishor Singh Rathor (Khas-Arya) and Umakanta Chaudhary (Tharu) have been elected.

Among the 4,694 votes cast 75 were invalid.

Minister Chaudhary is considered to be close to Krishna Prasad Sitaula. According to insiders, Deuba had fielded Pradeep Paudel for the post of general secretary and Chaudhary for joint general secretary.

“With the declaration of eight joint general secretaries, winners of all 13 office bearers of the party have been finalised today,” said advocate Keshav Rijal, secretary of the central election committee of the party. “Counting of votes for the Central Working Committee members of the party has already started.”

The Congress will elect 121 Central Working Committee from the ongoing 14th general convention that kicked off in Kathmandu on Friday.

While Deuba has made a comeback for the next four years, the party has got some new faces in key positions.

Purna Bahadur Khadka and Dhanaraj Gurung were declared winners on Wednesday night as party vice presidents. Khadka is from the Deuba camp and Gurung from the Koirala camp.

Of the 13 office bearers, the Deuba camp has eight members including himself and the Koirala camp has four.

The Congress will nominate 33 members to the Central Working Committee. A treasurer will also be nominated from among the elected Central Committee members.