Despite reservations of a faction on the voters’ list, as many as five Nepal Students’ Union president aspirants registered their nominations at the Nepali Congress headquarters in Sanepa on Monday.

Nain Singh Mahar, who hails from NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba’s hometown Dadeldhura, filed his nomination at 6pm, right before the deadline ended for the day. Donning a huge grin, Mahar was flanked by his general secretary aspirants of the establishment panel—Saroj Thapa and Kundan Kafle—as he entered the party premises to announce his candidacy.

Amid a tussle between two establishment side aspirants—Jit Jung Basnet and Mahar, sources said Deuba had himself opted for Mahar at the last hour. The panel also joined hands with Kafle, who is considered close to Krishna Prasad Sitaula and Gagan Thapa, two NC leaders with their own faction in the party, before announcing the alliance. Kafle had earlier staged a hunger strike claiming that a majority of the representatives were not students.

“This joint panel that we have made is in the best interest of the NSU. My friends and well-wishers have nominated me today honouring my devotion and hard work for this organisation,” Mahar told the Post after filing his nomination.

Subha Ram Basnet, Laxman Acharya, Nagen Singh Thakuri and Bachchan Karki also registered their names for the NSU president. As many as 400 people filed their nominations for various office bearer positions of the union’s central body.

Earlier in the day, the faction close to senior NC leader Ram Chandra Poudel chanted slogans against the deal forged to settle the dispute regarding representatives from 11 districts.

Kshitiz Bhandari, a president hopeful from the faction, warned of boycotting the conclave if the committee failed to settle the dispute regarding representatives by Tuesday morning.

From the Poudel faction, though Manoj Acharya is likely to be the official candidate, Deepak Bhattarai and Bhandari are also in the fray.

If things go as planned, the Poudel faction will file its candidacies after 11am on Tuesday. The mother party’s election committee looks to hold a vote by Wednesday. After a decade-long gap, the NSU inaugurated its 11th general convention on August 7.