KATHMANDU, Sept 10: Nepali Congress (NC) has proposed having four 'categories' of party membership, by adding new categories of members in the party with a view to attract independent professionals.
The statute drafting committee of the party has proposed general, active, special and honorary membership categories in the party in the new party statute, which is expected to be endorsed by the party's Mahasamiti meeting in November.
“We already have general and active categories of membership in the party. The proposed special categories will comprise professionals from various sectors, who cannot engage in party activities but believe in democracy and NC's ideology. The 'honorary' category will be given to the veterans who have contributed to democracy and changes in the country but are no more active in politics,” a member of the statute drafting committee, Mahalaxmi Upadhyaya (Dina) told Republica.
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According to the committee members, the proposed statute of the party has also mentioned about monitoring and record keeping mechanism to oversee and evaluate the activeness of the party's general and active members.
The statute drafting committee has also proposed increasing office bearers and central committee members in the party for its effective functioning in the new structure and address the issue of inclusiveness in all party structures.
The draft of the revised statute has proposed 10 office bearers in the party and up to 131 central committee members. According to members of the statute drafting committee, two vice president and three joint general secretary posts have been proposed in the party. Currently, NC has a president, a senior leader, a vice president, two general secretaries, a deputy general secretary and a treasurer posts in the top body. But the party is yet to decide the election method of the added office bearers, as the existing statute has provisioned election of the president, a general secretary, and a treasurer through votes and the rest to be nominated by the party president.
The committee has proposed increasing central committee members to 131 from the existing 85, in a bid to accommodate leaders close to Bijay Gachchhadar, after his party was merged with the NC ahead of the parliamentary polls last year.
The draft statute has proposed eight layers in the party organization including polling station, ward, local unit, provincial area, federal area, district committee, province committee, and central committee.
The party is scheduled to organize interactions on the draft of the party statute in all provinces in the third week of September. The draft of the new statute is expected to be finalized by the end of this month for discussion in the party's Mahasamiti, meeting of central and local representatives of the party, scheduled for November 21 in Kathmandu.
