Nepal's Defence Minister Minendra Rijal resigned on Thursday after he was defeated by younger leaders in the election to the post of general secretary of the ruling Nepali Congress party.
The Nepali Congress (NC) delegates elected its youth leaders Gagan Kumar Thapa and Bishwa Prakash Sharma as general secretaries during the 14th General Convention of the country’s largest democratic party.
The election comes a day after Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba was re-elected as the president of the party for a consecutive second four year term after defeating his rival Shekhar Koirala in a run-off.
Thapa, 46, secured 3,023 votes, while Sharma, 50, got 1,984 votes in the election.
Former Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat, 62, and Defence Minister Minendra Rijal, 64, among others, who contested for the post of general secretaries, were defeated in the election.
Rijal on Thursday tendered resignation from the post of Defence Minister on moral grounds.
Earlier, leaders Purna Bahadur Khadka and Dhanraj Gurung were elected Vice Presidents of the Nepali Congress party in the election.
Khadka secured 2,121 votes, while Gurung received 1,908 votes to emerge victorious for the post, according to the NC sources.
There is a provision of two general secretaries and two vice-presidents in the central working committee as per the party statute.
NC leaders Bijaya Kumar Gachchhadar, Chandra Bhandari, Mahesh Acharya and Sujata Koirala, daughter of former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala lost the election to the post of vice president of the party held on Monday.
Vote counting for other posts including deputy general secretary and central members are in progress.
There is a provision to elect 134 central members, including party president, vice president, general secretary and deputy general secretary as per the statute of the Nepali Congress. Treasurer will be nominated by the party president from among the central committee members.
The grand old party went to the polls to elect 13 office bearers - president, two vice presidents, two general secretaries, eight joint general secretaries and 121 Central Working Committee members.
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