Nepali Congress delegates are voting today, Thursday, October 8, 2026, to elect the party's new leadership at the 15th General Convention.
The presidential race is now between party president Gagan Kumar Thapa and Shyam Krishna Khadgi. A contest that began with three candidates became a two-way race when Kishor Singh Rathore withdrew on October 7.
Voting was set to begin at 7 a.m. but was pushed back to 10 a.m. because of rain and technical problems.
The Central Election Committee says 7,255 delegates are eligible to vote.
There are seven polling stations at three places in Kathmandu: Rastriya Sabha Griha, Khula Manch and Nepal Academy. Delegates have been assigned to stations by province and category.
Rathore, a former Nepal Students Union president, said he withdrew after a request from Thapa. He said he would stay active in efforts to move the party forward in a united way.
Efforts were also made to persuade Khadgi to withdraw so that Thapa could be elected unopposed. Those efforts failed, so delegates will still have a choice for president.
Thapa is the current president and is seeking a new mandate. He took over at a special convention in January 2026.
At the close of the convention's earlier proceedings on Wednesday, Thapa said factional groups within the party had ended. He said the Congress should now work as one organization. Factions have long been a feature of Congress politics. Khadgi's continued challenge shows that the leadership is still being contested.
The vote will choose more than a president. The party's new structure has a much larger Central Working Committee of 297 members.
It includes the president, a senior vice-president, four vice-presidents, three general secretaries and 15 joint general secretaries. Twenty-one committee seats are set aside for leaders under 35.
Bishwo Prakash Sharma has already been elected senior vice-president unopposed.
The result will help decide how the party positions itself against the government, whether it can hold together after months of internal disputes and whether younger leaders gain real influence or only seats. Former president Sher Bahadur Deuba is not part of the convention and is following a separate process.
