The controversy over the general convention has reached a boiling point after the Nepali Congress registered its party with the Election Commission under the condition that President Sher Bahadur Deuba himself will distribute tickets in the upcoming elections. A meeting of the Central Working Committee has been called on Thursday to take a decision on this.

The Nepali Congress submitted a party registration application to the commission on Sunday, naming President Deuba and including his signature. If the general convention is not held before the upcoming National Assembly elections on 11th Magh and the House of Representatives elections on 21st Falgun, Deuba will dominate the distribution of candidate tickets in both these elections. That is why there is increased pressure on General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwaprakash Sharma to hold a general convention before the elections. For that, leaders in favor of the general convention are organizing a special meeting in the capital on Wednesday.

The meeting of the signatory representatives and district presidents has been called with the aim of pressuring the party to take a decision on a special general convention, said campaign leader Devraj Chalise.

While the general secretaries are increasing pressure on the president to hold a general convention before the elections, Deuba seems to be moving forward to stay at the center of power and politics again by skipping both the regular and special general conventions. The latest step was to register the party with the Election Commission on Monday under Deuba's signature. Meanwhile, President Deuba's role seems contradictory. On the one hand, he himself has asked the party to register with the Election Commission to distribute tickets, while on the other hand, he has also given a message that he has agreed to bring the pre-election schedule with the 'condition' of withdrawing the petition demanding a special general convention.

If the petition with 54 percent signatures registered at the central office on Asoj 28 for a special general convention is not withdrawn, there is a statutory obligation to call a special general convention within three months, i.e. by Poush 28. General Secretaries Thapa and Sharma are of the opinion that if there is a desire to hold a general convention by mid-Poush, there is no need to keep the 'condition' of withdrawing the petition for a special general convention. They argue that holding a regular general convention by mid-May will automatically end the justification for a special general convention, but President Deuba and leaders close to him are saying that the agenda will come only on the 'condition' of withdrawing the application for a special general convention.

'The establishment party has insisted that the application for a special general convention should be withdrawn for the agenda of May. How can an issue that was signed by 2,488 delegates be withdrawn? After holding a regular convention, the justification for a special convention itself ends. It is clear that stalling on such a matter means the intention not to hold a general convention,' said Chalise, a leader in favor of the general convention. 'The situation has been further complicated by registering the party with the Election Commission under the name of the president.'

Chalise said that by distributing tickets to the Election Commission itself and making the party register, on the other hand, by setting a 'condition' to withdraw the application for a special general convention, they are trying to bring only the agenda.

General Secretary Thapa and Sharma, who had supported the signature campaign for a special general convention after concluding that the election could not be held without changing the party's leadership and policy, are now in a position to face off with party President Deuba. General Secretary Thapa has been challenging the party by saying that the new leadership coming from the general convention, not from the current Deuba, will distribute tickets in the upcoming elections. He has been saying, 'Now, as per the statute, a special general convention will be held within the stipulated time, and a new president will be elected from there. The decision will be corrected with the signature of the new president and will go to the Election Commission. The party will contest the elections with the same signature with the new policy and leadership.'

Congress General Secretary Thapa said - 'The new leadership that comes before the election will distribute tickets, not President Deuba'

According to leaders close to the two general secretaries, the general secretaries had suggested that President Deuba step down from his post and be given an acting role immediately after the Gen-G movement. At that time, Deuba was ready to give the acting chairmanship. However, after leaders close to him suggested that he address the Central Working Committee and leave, Deuba waited for that. Addressing the first meeting on Asoj 28, he handed over the authority of the acting chairmanship to Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka and even announced that he would not return to active politics.

General Secretary Thapa was immediately suspicious when he was only given the responsibility of the acting chairmanship without resigning from the chairmanship. Saying that there was no point in an acting chairmanship without resignation, he came to take a stand that the general convention should be held before the election. ‘That is exactly what happened. He went to Singapore to make Vice President Khadka deal with all the problems. After returning from there, the chairman himself started to become active. After registering the party with his own signature at the Election Commission, he is now active in all the ticket distribution work,’ said an official.

Statutoryly, President Deuba will not be allowed to compete for the party president again. The Congress has a provision in its statute that he cannot be the president for more than two terms. However, he seems to want to distribute tickets himself and maintain his influence in the parliamentary party that comes after the election. According to non-party leaders, the fact that Deuba is also behind the stance taken by former establishment party officials is clear from the fact that the party was registered with the Election Commission on Sunday.

However, establishment party Joint General Secretary Mahendra Yadav is opposing this and argues that the proposal to hold the general convention in Baisakh is because it will affect the election. ‘There is no possibility of any regular or special general convention before the 21 Falgun elections.’ They (General Secretary) also know this,' says Yadav, 'We are confident that the meeting to be held now will find a solution to the problem.'

After Deuba's activism increased, leaders in favor of a special general convention have started arguing that Deuba should not remain in office politically after the majority of the delegates who elected the president from the 14th general convention demanded a special general convention to change the policy and leadership.

'When political and moral questions arise over the leadership, it is unpolitical to enter into other issues without resolving them. It is not a democratic culture. Now we cannot go to the election without resolving it,' said Chalise, 'After the majority demanded a special general convention, we can only move forward after resolving it. The intention of withdrawing the application for a special general convention is not to hold a general convention. Making it a matter of prestige is an attempt to push back the issue of leadership transfer, we do not accept it.'