All Nepal Football Association (Anfa) Senior Vice-president Mani Kunwar on Friday announced his candidates for president as the build up to March 28 elections of the football governing body heats up.

Kunwar, a brother-in-law to suspended former president Ganesh Thapa, announced his candidacy amidst a programme claiming his faction can easily secure votes from at least 27 out of 45 district associations. The general assembly of Anfa has 77 votes including one each from 45 district associations and one each from 14 ‘A’ division clubs. The ‘B’ and ‘C’ division clubs will have nine and five votes respectively while four committees—players, coaches, referees and women commission—will have one vote each.

Kunwar’s candidacy comes five days after former vice-president Karma Tshering Sherpa announced his candidacy for Anfa top post. Sherpa had shaken the football leadership when he led campaign that raised voice against long-serving Thapa. The campaign ultimately resulted into Fifa slapping a 10-year ban on former president Thapa from all football activities from November 15, 2015 under charges of financial irregularities.

Current President Narendra Shrestha backed Kunwar claiming he is the right candidate for the job. “He (Kunwar) is young and full of energy. I believe that he is capable to run the football governing body and will take the game to a different height under his leadership,” said Shrestha who spared some time to speak against the Sherpa group. 

Indra Man Tuladhar, a former Anfa CEO and a close aide to Shrestha, was one of the big names switching to Sherpa faction. During their candidacy announcement on February 11, Tuladhar had claimed that an ‘unseen force’ has been playing its role from behind the curtain to control Anfa. Tuladhar was referring to the alleged influence Thapa was still having in the football governing body. 

But on Friday, Shrestha came hard on the allegation. “Yes there were short comings because we deprived Three Star of playing in the AFC Cup playoffs and lagged behind in terms of finance. But as a president I never felt there was any unseen force as claimed by a few people. This is not the time to blame others. We just have to work according to our will,” added Shrestha, who is not seeking re-election. After taking over Anfa on the interim basis, Shrestha was elected as the president for one-year term in October 2016 to fill the void left by the suspended Thapa. He beat Sherpa by 36 votes to 31.

Kunwar claimed football will see better days under his leadership as he outlined his plans. “The first and foremost thing that my leadership will do is make Anfa transparent and ensure a good governance. We will prepare the national team to win the 2018 Saff Championship, devise a five-year plan that will include forming different age-group teams, more budget for women’s football, decentralise AFC and Fifa programmes, make club self reliant, central academy for women and training centre at all seven provinces,” said Kunwar.