Kathmandu: Election for the new leadership of the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) is being held at ANFA Office Satdobato, Lalitpur on Today.
Karmachhiring Sherpa and Pankaj Vikram Nemwang, who once raised the slogan of Change ANFA and were in the same team during their previous tenure, have formed a panel and entered the election field.
Karmachhiring is the current president and Pankaj Bikram is the senior vice president.
Both have formed a team of 21-21 people. Rajivraj Poudyal has also become a candidate for the post. But he does not have a panel.
Therefore, the main competition for the chairmanship is between Karmachhiring Sherpa and Pankaj Bikram. Both have claimed that they should take the lead for the development of Nepali football.
During the four-year review, Karmachhiring claimed that his teammates had obstructed him, while Pankaj accused the leadership of failing to work together.
While Pankaj said that the leadership had done various things including financial irregularities, Karma said that all were involved.
Who is on the panel?
Karma Panel: From the panel of Karma Chhiring Sherpa, Saraswati Club President Shikshit Parajuli is the senior vice president and Bijnan Raj Sharma, Upendraman Singh, Dirgha Bahadur KC and Ratna Kumar Shrestha are the four vice presidents.
Among the members are Deepak Thapa, President of Friends Club, Pravin Kumar Yadav of Siraha, Rupesh Adhikari of Sanga Club, Lokendra Gurung of Lamjung, Ram Raja Gurung, former President of Baglung, Tikaram Lama, President of Makwanpur, Pradesh Singh Rathore of Banke, Bharat Budhpa of Jumla, Anil Shrestha, Vice President of Machindra Club and Castle Club.
Chairman Ramesh Vyanjankar, Chairman of Khumaltar Youth Club Maniraj Bista, Manish Joshi of Tokha Club and Binod Lama Tamang. Similarly, Pema Dolma Sherpa and Bina Shrestha are the candidates for the two women members.
Pankaj Panel: Pankaj’s panel includes Bir Bahadur Khadka, the current vice president and senior vice president for the four vice presidents.
Among the members are Pravin Suwal of Bhojpur District Association, Purushottam Thapa, Lalitpur District President, Mahendra Chhetri, President of Jawalakhel Youth Club, Vijay Ghale, President of Manang Marsyangdi Club and ANFA member, Nepal Karki of Rautahat, Tapeshwar Kumar Raut Kurmi of Dhanusha, Vikas Narayan Shrestha of Kavre District President, Ilam District Football Association.
Chairman Niroj Khadki, Chairman of Morang District Football Dipendra Dhimal, Chairman of Banke District Football Association Bhojraj Shahi, Anil Malla of Kailali District, Rabindra Chand of Surkhet District and Chief Lama Lilly are the candidates. Sarila Shrestha and Brinda Dewan have nominated women candidates from Pankaj Pyajal.
Who has the right to vote, How much do you need?
A 90-minute game is played in a football game, just like a game of 84 votes is being played on the election field.
Even though the voting rights are 87 in ANFA election, this time there will be only 84 voting rights. Sindhupalchowk, Bhaktapur and Siraha districts will not be able to exercise their voting right this time.
According to the panel, 9 out of 21 candidates in the Karmachhiring group have the right to vote.
Lokendra Gurung, Deepak Thapa, Tika Lama, Bharat Budh Thapa, Anil Shrestha, Ramesh Vyanjankar, Maniraj Bista, Manish Joshi and Binod Gurung have the right to vote. They are without the best representatives from the women’s association.
The votes of Karma Chhiring Sherpa, Senior Vice President Shikshit Parajuli, Vice President Upender Man Singh, Dirgha Bahadur KC and Ratna Kumar Shrestha have been secured. Seen in this light, this group seems to have secured 17 votes.
The leaders of this group have been claiming that they have more than 45 votes.
Most of the candidates on the Pankaj panel have the right to vote. Biraj Jung Shahi, Dawa Lama, Deepak Khatiwada and Sunder Narasimha Joshi, the four contenders for the post of vice-president, have the right to vote.
Pravin Suwal, Purushottam Thapa, Mahendra Chhetri, Nepal Karki, Bikash Narayan Shrestha, Bhojraj Shahi, Rabindra Chand and Anil Malla also have the right to vote.
Candidates Tapeshwar Raut Kurmi and Mukhiya Lama are the representatives.
Pankaj, the claimant of the chairman and Bir Bahadur, the claimant of the senior vice-chairman do not have the right to vote.
But Pankaj has the support of Jhapa while Bir Bahadur has the support of Sindhupalchowk. Leaders of the Pankaj faction have been claiming victory as more than half of the votes are in their favor.
But in both the panels, apart from the safe vote, about 48/49 votes will be decisive in the election.
