Kathmandu, Oct. 17 -- Gagan Kumar Thapa secured the highest number of votes at the Nepali Congress's 15th general convention, winning the party presidency with 6,584 votes and defeating his rival Shyam Krishna Khadgi, who received 375.

Thapa secured 93.9 percent of the votes cast for the presidency, compared with 5.4 percent for Khadgi.

The top 10 vote-getters among those elected at the convention include the party president, central committee members, a woman vice-president and joint general secretaries representing different categories.

Lalitpur Metropolitan City Mayor Chiribabu Maharjan, elected as a central committee member under the open category, ranked second with 5,330 votes, or 77.5 percent.

Basana Thapa came third with 5,193...