Himal Press 
Photo: RSS
KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress has decided to field its senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel in the presidential election.
The meeting of the work performance committee held on Saturday took the decision, according to party spokesperson Dr Prakash Sharan Mahat. “Poudel’s name was proposed by President Sher Bahadur Deuba and was approved unanimously,” added Mahat.
Krishna Prasad Sitauala, who was thought to be interested in the post, also supported Poudel’s name, according to party leaders.
Poudel started involving in politics after BP Koirala was jailed in the 1960s. Since then, he has been active in Nepali politics. He was also involved in the NC’s armed movement against the tyrannical rule in the 1960s.
One of the early initiators of the free student movement, Poudel was elected president of the student union of Saraswati Campus i the late 1960s. He is the founding member of the Nepal Students Union – the student wing of NC.
Poudel was appointed the coordinator of NC’s central publicity committee in 1984. He became a central working committee member of the party four years later.
He was elected to the House of Representatives in the 1991 election from the Tanahun-2 constituency and served as the Minister for Local Development and Agriculture. After the midterm polls of 1994, he was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives.
After the 1999 election, Poudel served as deputy prime minister and home minister.
Poudel, who failed to become Prime Minister despite contesting the election in the parliament 17 times in 2011, is now set to become Nepal’s third President. He is now almost certain to win the presidential election as he has the backing of eight political parties.
