As per Khanal"s proposal presented at the party"s Central Committee meeting on Saturday, the party will collect Rs 10,000 each from a grouping that includes former Constituent Assembly (CA) members, former ministers, businesspersons, professionals and senior party members having good sources of income. It will collect Rs 1,000 from Central Committee members and other members working at the party"s central level departments, and Rs 100 each from all formal members of the party.[break]
“No one can collect money without keeping proper records and issuing receipts. Moreover, the party has decided to encourage the collection of donations through banking channels,” Central Committee member Binda Pandey told Republica.
While Khanal tabled his proposal at the party"s meeting on Saturday, the CC members will air their views on the proposal starting Sunday.
With the CA election scheduled for November approaching, the UML has called for suggestions from the public for inclusion in its election manifesto.
The party had earlier this month issued a circular to its local chapters suggesting to them to recommend the names of possible candidates, along with alternatives names, from their respective constituencies. “The names of proposed candidates will be gathered from across the country by the first week of September. The Standing Committee will finalize the names and present them at the CC for final approval,” said Pandey.
Khanal, in his paper, emphasized on focusing the party activities more on the general public than on party members. Top leaders of the party at a recent Standing Committee meeting took this decision after concluding that the party"s activities in the previous election were more focused on the party itself. “This time the party"s focus is to create strong relations with the public. For that we will focus on programs like door-to-door campaigns,” she said.
Also, the chairman"s proposal aims to activate the party"s cultural wing, which includes musicians, singers, dancers, comedians and other popular artistes.
Pandey said the leadership took the decision as UML"s cultural wing used to be quite crucial in mass mobilization in the 1980s and 1990s against social ills deeply rooted in society.
Bhattarai floats proposal for fully proportional electoral model
Presenting a special proposal at the ongoing meeting, CC member Yogesh Bhattarai has demanded that the party decide to lobby for a fully-proportional electoral system that would help bring the agitating CPN-Maoist into the election process. Under the existing mixed electoral model, 42 percent of the total CA members are elected under a first-past-the-post system while 58 percent come under the proportional representation quota.
“I floated the idea mainly with a view to bringing the agitating political parties on board the election process because it may be futile to produce a new constitution amidst protests from some strong political forces,” Bhattarai told Republica. “However, this should be only for the CA election and should not be a permanent arrangement.”
He argued that the electoral system should help also to include Nepali nationals living in other countries for foreign employment, study or other purposes.
Bhattarai floated the proposal at the UML meeting a day after Nepali Congress youth leader Gagan Thapa, while speaking to media persons in Itahari, said that the major parties shouldn"t hesitate to go for a fully PR election if that helps bring the Baidya-led CPN-Maoist on board the election process. Thapa had lobbied the idea at the NC"s recent CC meeting also.
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