Application for party registration with Deuba's name as president for election purposes
What you should know
The Nepali Congress has submitted the name and signature of President Sher Bahadur Deuba to the Election Commission while registering the party for the National Assembly elections to be held on 11th Magh and the House of Representatives elections to be held on 11th Falgun. Even though Deuba had given a message on 18th Asoj that he would be retiring from active politics by appointing Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka as the acting president, the Nepali Congress has submitted the application for party registration with him as the president.
Along with this, Congress leaders have estimated that Deuba himself will distribute the candidate's ticket for the upcoming elections.
The decision to participate in the elections and register the party for election purposes was made at the central working committee meeting on Saturday. The decision of the same meeting, the application for party registration along with the name, surname, position and signature of the president, has been submitted to the Election Commission by the party's central office's chief secretary Krishna Poudel. By putting his name forward while registering the party, Deuba has sent a message that he will be active in distributing tickets for the upcoming elections.
Since Khadka took over as acting president, the Congress has been embroiled in a controversy over whether to bring forward or postpone the general convention election. Meanwhile, questions have also been raised about the decision-making ability of acting president Khadka. After returning from treatment in Singapore, Deuba had started consulting with party leaders. The suspicion that he was trying to push the party convention to his plan has been strengthened, according to other parties.
Leader Krishna Prasad Sitaula has denied the accusation that they did not allow the general convention to be held before the election to make President Deuba active. He said that since the application for party registration was submitted based on the decision of the central working committee, acting President Khadka and General Secretary Gagan Thapa would be informed about it rather than him. He also informed that the decision regarding party registration was made based on a proposal from the General Secretary and there was no dispute over it.
Sitaula says that President Deuba's active participation in ticket distribution and other election activities is natural. 'The list of candidates for the proportional representation of the House of Representatives should be submitted on 13 Poush. Criteria should be made for that. Letters should be sent to each district. Recommendations should be sought from below. Even if an acting president is given, there is no question of Deuba not being active in these activities,' he says. 'Due to his ill health, the working committee meeting is being held under the chairmanship of the acting president.'
Meanwhile, a proposal for a schedule to hold a general convention on 21-23 Poush was discussed through Deuba to convince leaders in favor of a special general convention, including General Secretaries Gagan Thapa and Bishwaprakash Sharma. Along with this, a condition was put forward to withdraw the petition registered at the central office on 29 Asoj demanding a special general convention with the signatures of 54 percent of the delegates. The 'condition' has been rejected by those in favor of a special general convention, including General Secretaries Thapa and Sharma, saying that the intention is not to hold a general convention before the election. 'We don't want a schedule, we want a general convention,' Thapa had said immediately after Saturday's meeting. 'If a regular general convention is held by mid-Poush, the petition for a special general convention will automatically be inoperative.'
Special General Convention supporter leader Gururaj Ghimire said that the issue of a special general convention is still unsolved and strong. ‘After the Gen-G movement, the process of the party’s leadership passing to the second generation had begun, but the party has returned to its old position by sending the name of the president to the Election Commission. Now, the issue of a special general convention has become even stronger ahead of the election,’ he said, ‘There is no way we can go to the election without changing the leadership and policy from the special general convention. If we do not change the leadership now, we will have to contest the election from a ticket signed by President Sher Bahadur Deuba. What will be the situation of the Congress at that time?’ He also informed that the special general convention supporter group will hold a program to make its views public on the issue of Deuba’s name being submitted to the Election Commission.
Establishment-oriented leader Shyam Ghimire, who was the chief whip of the Congress parliamentary party in the dissolved House of Representatives, gave a message in the meeting on 28 Asoj that he would not return to active politics and said that President Deuba’s activism would not be beneficial for him when the vice president has already been given an acting position. ‘Trying to make the president active in the daily activities of the party is not beneficial for him and is not good for the party,’ he said. ‘For the benefit of the party and the country, he should be placed in the position of a guardian. That is the best interest.’
Although the majority of members of the establishment party are of the opinion that the general convention will not be held before Baisakh by showing the election, there is an understanding among non-party leaders that an agreement could not be reached because the president and former office bearers have an inner desire to influence the distribution of tickets in the 21 Falgun election. Sitaula, on the other hand, says that ticket distribution should not be viewed from that perspective. ‘It is not a matter of one person being active or not in ticket distribution. The parliamentary board will distribute tickets. Now a parliamentary board should be formed. Recommendations should be sought from below,’ he says.
