Kathmandu, Dec. 19 -- UML chief KP Sharma Oli defeated the party's senior vice-chair Ishwar Pokhrel with a huge margin to get elected party chairman for a third term.

The backing of former President Bidya Devi Bhandari was considered among Pokhrel's strengths. But in the final analysis, it does not seem to have mattered much.

In the lead-up to the convention, the contest between Oli and Pokhrel was widely seen as a proxy fight between Oli and Bhandari.

In the third week of November, Pokhrel announced he would challenge Oli after the party committees decided to deny Bhandari party membership as she had supposedly planned on contesting the party's top post against Oli.

After returning from an official visit to China in early June, forme...