UML leadership through open competition in 55 districts

UML Central Election Commission Chairman Vijay Subba mentioned that office bearers were selected through competition in most of the districts and said that this has increased internal competition. "Internal democracy has been practiced in most of the districts where the convention has been held so far," he said.

Arghakhanchi, Rupandehi, Dang, Ramechhap, Rasuwa, Jhapa, Rukum East, Rukum West, Kanchanpur, Dadeldhura and Mugu unanimously elected leadership. Similarly, a unanimous leadership has been elected in the Labor Special District Committee. "This time, there was no obligation to elect a unanimous leadership," said Subba, "therefore, there was an open competition in the districts that could not be unanimously elected." Achham, Doti and Bajhang in Far West, Dolpa in Karnali, Sirha, Saptari and Dhanusha in Madhesh, Ilam, Tehrathum and Morang in Koshi, Manang in Gandaki are yet to be held. Similarly, the special district convention of young students is yet to be held. According to Subba, 77 geographical and 4 special district committee meetings are scheduled to be held by June.

Deputy General Secretary Pradeep Gyawali said that this time, the district convention was held according to the policy of 'consensus as much as possible, otherwise healthy competition', as healthy competition within the party helps in leadership development. "The policy was to maintain consensus as much as possible in the districts and if that was not possible, to keep healthy competition open," he said. He said, 'There was no work to overcome the factionalism, the competition ended with the end of the convention,' he said, 'After the election of the leadership, there is no need to take the competition as a tussle.' . After the 10th convention held in Chitwan in November 2078, the district convention of UML was held. "The district and municipal convention will give more momentum to the party," Gyawali said.

Last January, General Secretary Shankar Pokharel issued instructions for the district convention. The provision of the UML was that to be a candidate for the office of the district committee, one must have been a party member for at least 5 years and have served as a district committee member or a similar role for one term. According to the instructions of the

party, only 10 percent can be nominated. The remaining 90 percent of people are selected through competition. "Reducing the maximum number of committees while forming the committee," UML's instructions say, "In the past, the right to nominate up to 10 percent of the committee has been used at the same time as the convention. If the right to nominate a committee is used at the convention itself, the decision will automatically be invalidated." One-third of leaders under 40 years of age have been elected as leaders from the district convention.