Kathmandu, Dec. 25: The Nepal Olympic Committee (NOC) is preparing for its presidential election, which is scheduled for December 28. The race for the presidency has intensified as incumbent President Jeevan Ram Shrestha, General Secretary Nilendra Raj Shrestha, and Handball President Tej Gurung have all submitted their nominations.

Incumbent President Jeevan Ram Shrestha is aiming for a third term in office. He was first elected as NOC President in 2015 and was re-elected in 2019.

However, there are several concerns surrounding the election’s legibility.

The major issue has been the amendment of the NOC statute by current President Jeevan Ram that allows an individual to run for the President and General Secretary of the NOC for three tenures, it was two before.

The step has been called an authoritarian act by several sports associations that have been demanding an eligible seat as an NOC member association.

Moreover, sitting members of the NOC Executive Committee also showed dissatisfaction towards the move.

“In the past, with the goal of advancing the Olympic movement, we had established a provision to limit the terms of the General Secretary and President to two terms. However, amending the statute now with a focus on a single individual appears to lead Nepali sports further toward turmoil.

Amending the constitution right before elections seems to cater to individual-centric interests rather than the greater good,” read a letter by Sunil Shrestha, one of the five vice presidents of NOC.

Sunil has also stated to not take part in the election citing unethical moves within the organisation.

Furthermore, Jeevan Ram has also increased the vice-president posts to seven from five and decreased the seats of members from seven to five.

The NOC had called for the nomination registration to the Executive Committee on December 23 (Monday) through digital method as the NOC office was padlocked by the government for not following the order of the Patan High Court.

NOC President Jeevan Ram claimed that the nominations were registered online on Monday in coordination with and under the direction of the International Olympic Council (IOC).

The NOC received a copy of the order of the High Court at 2 pm on Monday, but Jeevan Ram had already passed the motion with the support of the majority for the amendment of NOC constitutions and election before it arrived.

Nevertheless, Jeevan Ram has clarified that his action was not against the Court as the decisions were made before they received the order’s copy.

By Tuesday, the posts for five members, three secretaries, one general secretary, treasurer and deputy secretary, and seven vice-presidents were filled unanimously.

There were nine candidates for the seven vice-president posts but two of them – Nepal Judo Association President Deepak Harsha Bajracharya and Nepal Kabaddi Association President Tulsi Thapa – cancelled their candidacy on Tuesday allowing seven others to get elected unopposed. They both were former secretaries at the NOC.

The ones elected for the vice-president posts are Jyoti Rana (lawn tennis), Ashok Ratna Bajracharya (swimming), Chaturananda Raj Vaidhya (tennis), Gopal Sundar Lal Kakshapati (cycling), Prakash Shumsher Rana (taekwondo), Dawa Gurung (karate) and Anil Prasad Sharma (hockey). Rana, Bajracharya and Vaidhya are continuing their terms as the vice-president.

While Sunil opposed the election and three vice presidents are continuing, Tej Bahadur Gurung has filed his candidacy for the President.

Meanwhile, the three new secretaries are Ramesh Prasad Siwakoti, Bhim Singh Gurung and Ram Krishna Shrestha; they all are new faces.

Rajiv Shrestha is the new general secretary while Tashi Ghale and Ramji Bahadur Shrestha are the treasurer and deputy secretary respectively.

Ghale is the former member while Ramji was a secretary.

Likewise, Geeta Rana, Lakpa Tshering Lama, Ram Awale, Manish Joshi and Jitendra Bahadur Chand have been appointed as the members.