NPRC America’s third convention concludes, after 12 years electing new leadership

VERGINIA :- The convention of the Public Relations Committee, (NPRC) USA has concluded with the election of new leadership. The committee’s third convention selected its leadership through a voting process, ending a 12-year period during which no leadership change had occurred due to internal disputes within the Congress party.

A 28-member executive committee—comprising 12 office bearers and 16 members—led by Munindra Nembang was elected during the third convention held in Virginia on Sunday. Chief Election Commissioner Bhakta Thapa announced that Nembang secured victory by defeating his closest rival, CP Paudyal, by a margin of 128 votes.

Nembang secured 266 votes, while Paudyal received 138. Nembang is close to Congress General Secretary Bishwa Prakash Sharma, whereas Paudyal is an associate of former President Sher Bahadur Deuba. Six candidates, including Nembang and Paudyal, contested for the presidency. According to Chief Election Commissioner Thapa, the presidential contenders included Santosh Pahari, Dhruva Gautam, Bed Prasad Kharel, and Amrit Sapkota, alongside Nembang and Paudyal.

Binod Bhatta has been elected as the Senior Vice-President of the Public Relations Committee. He defeated his closest rival, Gyanendra Raj Karki. According to the results announced by the election committee, Bhatta secured 132 votes, while Karki received 104. Uttam Dhamala and Chandra Kanta Dhital were also contenders for the position of Senior Vice-President, alongside Bhatta and Karki.

Sanjeev Shrestha, Hari Sharma, Shriram Thapa, and Nima Bomjan have been elected as Vice-Presidents. The election committee reported that Shrestha secured 235 votes, Sharma 178, Thapa 180, and Bomjan 145. Ten candidates had contested the election for the position of Vice-President. Additionally, Sushil Khatri was elected as Youth Vice-President, Laxmi Karki as Women’s Vice-President, and Mahendra Basnet as Youth Affairs Vice-President.

Similarly, Gautam Dahal and Narayan Khanal have been elected as General Secretaries of the Public Relations Committee. Dahal had announced his candidacy for the position two weeks ago. Close to Congress leader Gagan Thapa, Dahal won the election by securing 184 votes. The other General Secretary, Khanal, received 204 votes. Along with Dahal and Khanal, Kilanchan Rai, Pratik Pandey, and Ananta Raj Subedi had also contested for the post of General Secretary.

The election committee has announced the election of Arjun Bam as Joint General Secretary; Suman KC and Srijana Bhatta as Youth Joint General Secretaries; and Narayan Prasad Pokharel as Treasurer.

No convention had been held since 2014 for the *Jana Samparka* (Public Relations) wing, which was originally established as an ad-hoc committee in the US in 2006 by the then-Congress President Girija Prasad Koirala. The Congress had institutionalized the *Jana Samparka* wing in the US through its first convention held in 2007–2008. Subsequently, the second convention took place in the state of Texas in September 2014.

Ananda Bista was elected president during the second convention held in 2014. He resigned from the presidency after filing his candidacy for the House of Representatives from Kailali Constituency No. 4, an election held on the 19th of Phagun. Eight hundred central representatives were selected during the convention. The Public Relations Committee (USA) has 4,000 members.