Kathmandu, March 5: The Nepal Council of World Affairs (NCWA) on Saturday elected Hemanta Kharel as its new President.

In the election held for the new working committee, Kharel defeated his closest contender and senior advocate Biswokanta Mainali by eight votes. Kharel garnered 150 votes to win the election.

NCWA – the oldest organization of Nepal’s intelligentsia – also elected Umesh Bahadur Malla as Vice President, Asim Thapa as General Secretary, Bhuvan Pathak as Secretary and Rabindranath Bhattarai as Treasurer.

The working committee members include Jaya Sharma, Biraj Pradhan, Bimal Khadka, Ram Dayal Rakesh, Budhinarayan Shrestha and Surendra Prasad Chaudhary. RSS