Kshitiz Thebe has been re-elected as the chair of the National Youth Association Nepal, the youth wing of the CPN-UML, defeating his closest rival Suman Puri by a margin of 188 votes.

In Tuesday’s election, Thebe secured 796 votes while Puri received 608. Out of the total 1,764 registered voters, 1,404 votes were cast through electronic voting.

This marks Thebe’s second term as chair. Both Thebe and Puri, who previously served as general secretary, formed separate slates after efforts to elect leadership through consensus failed.

Mahesh Chaulagain from Thebe’s panel was elected general secretary with 755 votes, defeating Kuber Adhikari of the Puri slate who got 649 votes.

Other elected officials from Thebe’s panel include Maharaj Gurung and Binay Shah as vice chairs, Mahesh Chaulagain as general secretary, Upendra Shahi as deputy general secretary, and Madan Bhandari as secretary. Arun Kunwar (secretary), Nisha Limbu Subba (women’s secretary), and Mobin Akhtar Alam (Madhesi secretary) were elected from the Puri slate.

Key commission heads include Mohammad Nizamuddin (Disciplinary Commission), Madan Giri (Election Commission), Krishna Dutta Jaisi (Accounts Commission), and Chhin Lama (Youth Advisory Council).

Puri’s slate had fielded Prakash Gautam and Parbat Bhandari as vice chairs, Kuber Adhikari as general secretary, and other candidates including Khemraj Sharma, Reshu Tamang, and Chitranjan Yadav in various positions.

The 10th convention of the Association aimed to elect 163 representatives, with 64 of them elected unopposed. The convention was inaugurated last Friday by Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.