375 candidates vie for 64 posts

13th NC General Convention

KATHMANDU, March 5: With the formal procedures under the 13th general convention already under way, leaders and cadres of the Nepali Congress (NC) have filed their candidacies for various posts and intensified their publicity campaigns.

When the deadline for registering candidacies expired at 12 noon on Friday, altogether 375 party leaders had filed their candidacies for 64 different posts.

Sharply aligned mainly along the three panels led by party Acting President Ram Chandra Paudel, former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and General Secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula, the candidates have been campaigning on individual as well as panel basis.

Paudel, who is the contestant for the post of party president from the establishment side, has chosen Shashank Koirala as general secretary and Sita Yadav as treasurer from his panel.

Deuba, who has been the establishment's arch-rival for years, has picked Arjun Narasingh KC as general secretary and Chitralekha Yadav as treasurer from his panel.

Likewise, Sitaula, who has formed a new panel of his own, has popular youth leader Gagan Thapa as general secretary and Umakant Chaudhary as treasurer in his team.

Krishna Karki has filed as an independent candidate for the post of treasurer. Though he is believed to be close to Khum Bahadur Khadka, Khadka himself is supporting the Deuba panel.

The party has allocated seats in various categories to elect members in accordance with the policy of inclusion. The general convention will elect 25 Central Working Committee members under the open category, for which 94 leaders have filed their candidacies.

102 candidates at provincial level

Fourteen members will be elected from the provincial level, two from each of the seven provinces. Altogether 102 candidates have filed candidacy from their respective provinces. Province 3, which also includes the capital city Kathmandu, has seen the maximum number of candidates with 25 of them, while Province 2 covering the Madhesi districts has only six aspirants. Likewise, Province 1 has 18 candidates, Province 4 has 14, Province 5 has 16, Province 6 has 11 and Province 7 has 14 candidates in the race.

The party has allocated five seats under the Dalit category. Of these, two seats are reserved for women while candidates of both genders can contest the other three seats. Similarly, five seats are allocated for Indigenous communities and five under the Madhesi category. In each category, two seats are reserved for women while three seats are open for both genders from the respective ethnic communities. A single seat is reserved for Muslims.

Despite allocation of seats under various categories, some women and leaders from the ethnic communities are contesting under the open category. Female leaders Sujata Koirala, Mahalaxmi Upadhyay Dina and Niru Pokharel; Kul Bahadur Gurung, Jip Chhiring Lama, Dhanraj Gurung, Dhaba Gurung, Purna Kumar Sherma and Suryaman Gurung from the ethnic communities; Umesh Kumar Mishra and Padamnarayan Chaudhary from Madhes; and a Muslim, Hajim Abdul Miya, are contesting under the open category.

The party's election committee has scheduled 9 am to 11 am on Saturday for withdrawing candidacies for any of the posts. NC representatives will vote for a new leadership only on Sunday.

Any candidate securing over 50 percent of the total valid votes cast in the election will get elected president. If none of the presidential candidates secures 51 percent of the votes, there will be run-off between the two leading candidates.

Party statute amended

The closed-door session has amended a party statute provision to elect two members from each of the seven provinces. Earlier, the party used to elect one member each from the 14 zones. The same number has now been converted into 14 members to be elected from the seven provinces.