Jeevan Ram Shrestha was elected as the president of Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) for a third term on Saturday.

Shrestha secured all 20 votes cast online. He was first elected as the NOC President in 2015 and re-elected in 2019.

“This election was held amid various obstacles,” Shrestha said after his reelection to the post. “It should have been conducted before December as per the instruction of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).”

Shrestha, who is also a former parliamentarian, added, “I would like to thank my friends for their trust in me. I will always be grateful for this support. I want to express my commitment for more work for the development of Nepali sports in my next tenure.”

According to Shrestha, the election was conducted online with representatives from the IOC and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) participating.

Shrestha insisted that the stay order issued by the Patan High Court was not against the election and further added that NOC had not formally received Supreme Court’s interim order to stay election until late Friday.

Shrestha also said that the election had to be conducted digitally due to the government’s ‘illegal intervention’.

The NOC had collected the nomination digitally on December 23.

Shrestha’s rival and immediate-past General Secretary Nilendra Raj Shrestha, among others, chose not to participate in the election.

A total of 27 affiliated associations of the NOC have voting rights.

The Supreme Court had issued an interim order on Thursday instructing the NOC not to proceed with the election. Based on this order, the National Sports Council (NSC) had also issued a notice urging NOC and its affiliated associations to refrain from conducting the election.

The Patan High Court had issued a stay order not to conduct the general assembly. However, despite the order, Shrestha had convened a special general assembly and amended the statute allowing him to run for a third term. Previously, the statute allowed one to run for president only twice.

Out of the 19 members of the NOC Executive Committee, only the presidential position was contested in the election on Saturday.

Seven vice presidents—Jyoti Rana, Gopal Sundar Kakshapati, Prakash Shamsher Rana, Dawa Gurung, Anil Prasad Sharma, Ashok Ratna Bajracharya, and Chaturananda Raj Vaidya—were already elected unopposed.

Rajeev Shrestha was elected general secretary, Tashi Ghale treasurer, Ramji Bahadur Shrestha assistant general secretary, and Bhim Singh Gurung, Ram Krishna Shrestha, and Ramesh Prasad Shivakoti were selected secretaries. The members elected include Geeta Rana, Jitendra Bahadur Chand, Lakpa Chiring Lama, Manish Joshi, and Ram Awale.