Nepal defence minister resigns after losing party election

Kathmandu [Nepal], December 16 : Nepali defence minister Minendra Prasad Rijal has stepped down from the post after losing the election for General Secretary of the ruling Nepali Congress.
Rijal announced he will be stepping down from the post on Thursday afternoon after he trailed behind in vote counting for General Secretary which he had contested in lately held 14th general convention.
"The 14th General Convention election result of the Nepali Congress has shown that my presence inside the party has contracted further. Upon analysing and getting the signals my ethics would not let me retain the post of Defence Minister any longer. That's why am resigning from the post of Defence Minister," Rijal announced as he read out the letter submitted to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba.
Before the press conference, Rijal handed over his resignation letter to Nepal Prime Minister Deuba at the latter office shortly after the party's election committee began releasing the preliminary vote count.
Rijal contested the election for two general secretarial positions from the Shekhar Koirala panel. Of the 4,682 votes cast, he won only 809 votes. According to the final vote tally, Gagan Thapa and Bishwo Prakash Sharma emerged victorious as the general secretaries.
In the 14th edition of the General Convention held earlier this month, Nepal Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba secured the comfortable majority securing the post of party president for the second consecutive term after the second round of voting.
The 75-year-old leader who has become Prime Minister five times secured 2733 votes leaving his contender Dr Shekhar Koirala behind with 1855 votes.
Deuba earlier on the first round-faced four other candidates vying for the same post which led to a run-off that was held till Tuesday late night. Upon getting support from influential leaders Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Prakash Man Singh, Bimalendra Nidhi, and Sashank Koirala in the runoff Deuba secured the majority.