The Standing Committee (SC) meeting under way since Tuesday has been short-listing the candidates from a list of over 750 names proposed by local committees of the party.
Standing committee members said they would make the final list public only after finalizing the names for all the 240 constituencies. [break]
“We have finalized over 50 percent of the candidates so far. We will make the names public only after we complete the selection process,” CPN-UML Secretary Shankar Pokharel told Republica. “We will not finalize the names in haste as we also want to see the candidates of rival parties.”
According to Pokharel, it will take at least two more days to finalize other FPTP candidates. Then, they will start finalizing candidates for proportional seats.
The party´s central body had instructed its local bodies to propose three alternative candidates for a constituency under FPTP. Most of the constituencies have proposed three (including a woman) candidates from each constituency. Some have proposed more than three due to disputes while some of the local bodies have proposed a single candidate for a constituency as there was consensus over a single leader.
According to a party leader, altogether 750 candidates have been proposed from across the country. The party will have to finalize 240 candidates under FPTP from among them.
“We have already discussed the proposed names with zonal in-charges and other concerned bodies. Now, we are at the standing committee meeting are holding discussions on each of the proposed names,” said SC member Amrit Bohara.
Similarly, the party has to finalize a list of 335 candidates for PR seats. For that, according to leaders, over 4,000 names have been proposed by party bodies and various other sectors across the country.
Similarly, Nepali Congress´s parliament board has settled all the complaints registered against the proposed candidates and has planned to finalize FPTP candidates starting Thursday.
“We at today´s [Wednesday] meeting settled all the complaints. We will now start selecting candidates from tomorrow,” said NC leader Arjun Narsingh KC. “We have planned to select all FPTP candidates by September 28.”
As per the calendar of events published by the Election Commission, the parties have to submit the list of candidates for PR seats by September 30 while FPTP candidates have to file their candidacy by October 3.
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