From Pokharel's side, the names of Surendra Pandey for vice-chairman, Gokarna Bista and Yogesh Bhattarai for general secretary are in the forefront.
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Senior Vice President Ishwor Pokharel is set to form a panel to contest for the post of president at the 11th general convention of UML. Pokharel, who has announced his candidacy against KP Sharma Oli, who is seeking a third term as president, has started his homework to form a panel. The UML general convention is being held in Kathmandu from 10-12 December.
On Pokharel's side, the vice-chairmen Yubaraj Gyawali, Ashtalakshmi Shakya and Surendra Pandey, secretaries Gokarna Bista, Yogesh Bhattarai and Raghubir Mahaseth have already been announced.
Similarly, Binda Pandey is also preparing to file her candidacy from Pokharel's side. Pandey is likely to be the candidate for the vice-chairman post from Pokharel's side. Preparations are underway to make one of Bista and Bhattarai the candidate for the general secretary post and the other the candidate for the deputy general secretary post. Binda is likely to file her candidacy for the secretary post. Gyawali and Shakya have not shown interest in filing their candidacy.
There is a possibility that Bishnu Poudel will be re-elected as vice-chairman from the Oli panel towards the establishment. Similarly, Pradeep Gyawali has expressed his desire for the general secretary post. If Shankar Pokharel does not repeat as general secretary, he will be the vice-chairman candidate and Gyawali will be the general secretary candidate. Deputy general secretary Prithvisubba Gurung is also aspiring for the general secretary post. Deputy General Secretary Bishnu Rimal is also a candidate for the vice-chairman.
From the Oli side, Bishnu Poudel is the vice-chairman, Pradeep Gyawali and Prithvisubba Gurung are the general secretary. Oli will also have to manage the vice-chairman Ram Bahadur Thapa of Maoist background and the secretary Lekhraj Bhatta. Since a woman leader needs to be made the deputy general secretary, Padma Aryal is a possibility. Aryal is currently the secretary. The candidates for the secretary position are Bhim Prasad Acharya, Lalbabu Yadav, Kiran Gurung, Bhanubhakta Dhakal, Khagraj Adhikari, Sherdhan Rai and Rajan Bhattarai.
Former President Bidya Devi Bhandari was a candidate for the leadership from the non-establishment side. But Chairman Oli had stopped the renewal of her party membership. After that, Pokharel was put forward for the post of chairman with the support of the Bhandari side. Pokharel said that he would compete 'healthily' for the chairmanship. 'I have said that I will compete for the chairmanship. This is not something that should be considered otherwise,' he said, 'every representative who has reached the qualification level is eligible for the competition.
On the other hand, the UML statute was amended in the third week of last Bhadra to pave the way for Oli to compete for a third term. During the amendment, the provision that only two terms can be served in an executive position and the age limit of 70 years was removed. In the secretariat meeting on Thursday, Oli had emphasized that such competition should be made healthy since the leaders who competed with him are not in the UML. 'Let's have a healthy competition for leadership. Let's unite the party,' he said. On Friday, at the announcement program of the 'National Volunteers Force', Oli had indicated that it would be better to go together rather than compete for the leadership selection.
In the eighth general convention held in Falgun 2065, there was a competition between Oli and Jhalanath Khanal for the position of president. At that time, Oli was defeated by Khanal. Ishwor Pokharel was elected as the general secretary. In the ninth general convention held in Kathmandu in Asad 2071, Oli was elected as the president after a competition between Oli and Madhav Kumar Nepal. Pokharel was elected as the general secretary. Similarly, in the 10th general convention held in Mangsir 2078, there was a competition between Oli and Bhim Rawal. At that time, Oli was elected for a second term. Pokharel was elected as the senior vice-chairman and Shankar Pokharel was elected as the general secretary.
Pokharel played a role in helping Khanal win in the eighth general convention and Oli win in the ninth general convention. At the request of Oli in the tenth general convention, he was unanimously elected as the senior vice-chairman. Since Oli took the leadership, the leaders Khanal, Nepal and Rawal who competed with him have left the party. These three leaders are affiliated with the NCP, which is coordinated by Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
The UML Legislative General Convention held in the third week of Bhadra has reduced the number of office bearers from 19 to 15. The National General Convention will elect a 251-member Central Committee, including the Chairman, 3 Vice-Chairmen, General Secretary, 3 Deputy General Secretaries, and 7 Secretaries, and the chairmen of the provincial committees will be ex-officio members of the Central Committee. There will be a competition for these positions in the upcoming General Convention.
The Constitutional General Convention had abolished the post of Senior Vice-Chairman, stating that ‘the system where the outgoing Chairman of the Central Committee automatically becomes the senior leader, that is, an unelected person becomes the second-ranking official of the Executive Committee, is against the spirit of the democratic system.’
The Central Secretariat arrangement has been removed and the 15-member office bearers have been converted into a standing committee. The Politburo and Central Committee structure will remain. One-third of the 251 will be an 84-member Politburo. Since there will be no standing committee, many leaders will remain in the Politburo.
