KATHMANDU: Vote counting for the election of the new Central Working Committee of the Nepali Congress is gaining momentum, with around 25 teams working simultaneously at the party’s central office in Sanepa.

The Central Election Committee has accelerated the process in view of the upcoming Dashain festival and expects to complete the counting and announce the remaining results by Wednesday.

Raju Katuwal, member secretary of the Central Election Committee, said the counting was being carried out systematically and without major complications. According to him, counting for two clusters had been completed by Tuesday morning, while four other clusters were still being counted. Preparations were also underway to start counting votes from six additional clusters.

The committee has already completed counting for seven Central Working Committee positions under the public relations cluster, including two seats reserved for women and five open-category seats.

Similarly, counting has been completed for the joint general secretary and Central Working Committee member positions under the backward communities category.

The counting process is continuing for several other categories designed to ensure representation based on gender, ethnicity, geography, age and other social groups.

Among the positions currently being counted are the open and women’s joint general secretary posts, along with women’s Central Working Committee seats. Votes are also being counted for the joint general secretary and Central Working Committee positions under the Indigenous Nationalities category.

For the Far Western Province, counting is underway for open, women’s and under-35 Central Working Committee positions. Open seats under the geographical and under-35 categories are also being processed.

According to the Nepali Congress Media Center, preparations are progressing for counting votes for the Dalit category, including the joint general secretary position and open, women’s and Madhesi Dalit Central Working Committee seats.

The remaining categories include minority and disability representation, Madhesi, Khas-Arya and professional groups. The party is also preparing to count votes for the joint general secretary and Central Working Committee positions allocated to these categories.

One of the most closely watched stages will be the counting of votes for 45 open-category Central Working Committee positions. The results are expected to attract significant attention as they will determine a substantial portion of the party’s new leadership team.

The simultaneous deployment of around 25 counting teams is intended to shorten the process and ensure that the results are made public as quickly as possible.

The election committee has said it is working toward completing all counting and publishing the remaining results by Wednesday. The completion of the process will formally pave the way for the formation of the Nepali Congress’s new Central Working Committee.