Congress general convention put off till Sept 17

KATHMANDU: A Central Working Committee meeting of the Nepali Congress today decided to postpone its 12th General Convention for 22 days due to lack of sufficient preparation and ongoing standoff in the process of prime ministerial elections.

The GC will now be convened from September 17 to 21 in Kathmandu. Earlier, it was scheduled to be held from August 26 to 30. The party’s CWC’s five-year term will expire on September 16. Originally the CWC had a three-year term but the incumbent CWC’s term was extended by

two years, citing adverse political situation as per the party’s statute.

It is mandatory to hold a party’s convention once in five years as per the Election Commission’s rule.

“As the party’s local units’ conventions have already been held and the GC’s process has already been moved forward, crossing the September 16 deadline will not be illegal and we have already consulted the Election Commission in this regard,” said CWC member Krishna Prasad Sitaula.

This is the fourth time that the party postponed the GC citing lack of preparation. Internal dispute in the party was also the cause behind earlier three postponements. The 11th GC held in 2005 had decided to go for the Constituent Assembly elections and to remain indifferent on the issue of monarchy, which was a major ideological shift in the party’s six-decade history.

Lack of timely preparation for the convention and the standoff in the process of the prime ministerial elections are the main reasons behind the postponement, said CWC me-mber Sitaula. The committee headed by senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba, formed to dr-aft the party’s policy and programme for the next term, is yet to complete its task while other managerial tasks for the convention are not yet over.

“We were unable to complete all preparatory work in time for GC due to the party leaders’ engagement in the local units’ conventions and the ongoing standoff in the process to elect new PM,” said CWC member and chief whip Laxman Prasad Ghimire. The party has completed village and area-level conventions. District-level conventi-ons will be held on September 12.

Meanwhile, today’s CWC meeting decided that 14 GC representatives will take part in the upcoming GC from India’s Nepali Janasamparka Samiti. There are 1,039 active members of the party in India. Seven representatives each from other countries, including UK, Japan and Qatar, which have at least 500 active members, will take part in the GC as per today’s decision.

CWC also decided that five representatives, including chairperson from each sister organisation, will be selected as GC representatives and the selection will be done in the presence of central election committee’s observer.

It was decided that the party would not withdraw from race for prime ministerial berth.

Source: http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Congress+general+convention+put+off+till+Sept+17&NewsID=252884