Voting to elect new leadership of the CPN–UML began in Kathmandu on Wednesday morning.

Candidates for the post of the party’s chairperson KP Sharma Oli and Ishwar Pokhrel cast their ballots to officially start the voting process.

Earlier, the voting that was supposed to take place on Tuesday evening had been postponed, citing some technical problems.

This morning as well, voting was delayed after Oli arrived late at the polling station, causing delegates to line up and wait. A total of 80 electronic voting machines have been set up for the polling. Altogether, 2,263 delegates gathered at Bhrikutimandap of Kathmandu from across the country are participating in the vote at the general convention.

According to the party’s election committee, it takes a delegate around half an hour to vote due to the long list of candidates.

Chairperson candidates Oli and Pokhrel are competing with full panels. Both sides have prepared and distributed their respective panel lists to the delegates.

The convention will elect 19 office bearers including party chair and general secretary, 301 central committee members, among others.