The draft of the amended statute of Nepal Congress (NC) will be presented in the ongoing mahasamiti meeting only on Thursday.
The draft statute will be sent to the press for printing only after the central committee meeting to be held at the parliamentary party office in Singha Durbar Wednesday afternoon endorses it, according to central committee member and spokesperson of the statute amendment committee Ramesh Lekhak. “The copies of draft statute will be given to the mahasamiti members only on Thursday,” he said.
Central committee members will comment on the points agreed by the meeting of office-bearers including party President Sher Bahadur Deuba and senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel on Tuesday during Wednesday’s meeting.
The mahasamiti meeting originally scheduled to end on Tuesday has been extended after the leaders outside Deuba faction insisted that the number of office-bearers should be increased and elected directly by the general convention.
The mahasamiti meeting being held at Yogamber Party Venue in front of Singha Durbar until Wednesday will shift to the party office in Sanepa from Thursday.
The leaders have agreed that the president, two vice-presidents, two general secretaries and two deputy general secretaries will be elected by the general convention. The treasurer will be nominated from among the elected central committee members by the central committee on recommendation of the president who will also nominate the spokesperson.
The NC party statute currently only allows one vice-president. Deuba was under pressure to increase the number of office-bearers after nominating Vijay Kumar Gachchhadar, who merged his party Nepal Loktantrik Forum with NC, as the second vice-president through a political decision.
The central committee will also be increased to 161-strong from the current 85 after amendment of the statute. President will get to nominate 20 percent of the central committee members. At least one woman should come to the central committee from each province.
The party has yet to be taken into federal structure despite the country adopting federalism. The party does not currently have structures for constituencies of the provincial assembly and provinces. The amended statute will incorporate federal structure.
“The provincial committees will also have the same structure as the central committee,” Lekhak told Setopati.
