There has been intense competition in the selection of representatives for the 11th general convention of the UML. Despite efforts to ensure unanimity in all districts, elections were held in more than a dozen districts.

As there is a definite competition between the party leadership between Chairman KP Sharma Oli and Senior Vice President Ishwor Pokharel, both parties have focused on selecting representatives. The party center had given an informal instruction to select representatives unanimously as much as possible. However, the election was held because there were more aspirants than the specified quota. The schedule for selecting representatives in 165 constituencies in 77 districts was on Saturday.

Kashinath Adhikari, head of the organization department, said that elections were held in more than a dozen districts. ‘Elections have been held to select representatives in districts including Dhanusha, Mahottari, Makawanpur, Kanchanpur, Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Okhaldhunga, Jhapa, Rukum West, Morang, Lamjung, Tanahun and Gorkha,’ he said, ‘All district committees should have selected representatives by Saturday. If it is stopped for any technical reason, it will be held the next day.’

Despite efforts to select representatives unanimously in Kathmandu and Lalitpur in the valley, the election has been held. In Bhaktapur, representatives have been unanimously elected. District Committee Deputy Secretary Bindu Maharjan informed that elections were held in nine constituencies, while in Kathmandu constituency 10, elections were held in 10 constituencies. “46 representatives will be elected from Kathmandu. Out of them, 15 will be women, 10 youths under 40 years of age and one Dalit representative,” she said.

Similarly, in Lalitpur, one youth and one Dalit representative were elected unanimously, but in three other constituencies, elections were held, informed Chairman Purushottam Subedi. Four women, three youths under 40 years of age and one Dalit representative from Lalitpur will participate in the general convention. Bhaktapur District Committee Chairman Bachan Deuja said that all the representatives were unanimous. Out of the 14 representatives from the district, five are women, two are youths under 40 years of age and one Dalit.

Around 2,300 representatives will participate in the UML general convention to be held in Kathmandu from 27-29 Mangsir. The method has been decided to select one representative for every 1,200 members from all districts and 165 constituencies, including one youth under the age of 40 and at least one woman. The Central Committee members will be 355, the Central Disciplinary Commission 29, the Accounts Commission 30, the Election Commission 25, and 25 from the Advisory Council will be directly elected.

There will be 45 representatives, including at least two women, from the party members working in provincial (including special) committees in the country as elected representatives. If the minimum number of party members in a province exceeds 800, one more woman representative will be elected, and after that, one more elected representative will be elected for every additional 8/800. If it exceeds that, women will be elected in the first 800 and the others will be elected in the same proportion. In this way, about 1,135 representatives will come from the constituency.

In special districts, three representatives will be elected for every 200 party members, including at least one woman. If the number of members exceeds 800, one more representative will be elected for every 800 and one-third of such number will be women. About 47 representatives will be elected under the special district and at least one representative will be elected from up to 500 Dalit party members working under the geographical district as Dalit representatives. If the number of members in that area exceeds 500, another one will be elected for every additional one and if more than that, in the same proportion (at least one woman will be mandatory when three representatives are elected), about 81 Dalit representatives will participate in the general convention.

Similarly, for the selection of workers' representatives, the number of representatives to be elected from the Shramik Party members working under the 7 provinces of the geography will be 49, including at least three women, at a rate of seven. 10 representatives, including at least three women, will be elected from the special constituency of India and 35 representatives, including two women, will be elected from each region.

32 elected representatives will come from each department among the party members working in the central department. 1 elected representative will be selected from among the members working in the party central office. 23 representatives will be elected from the party members working in the central committee of the federation at the rate of seven, including at least 3 women, and 137 representatives will be elected from the people's organizations at the rate of five, including two women.

When selecting representatives from the general party members from the geographical, Dalit, Valley Special and Contact Coordination constituencies, if the remaining number is more than fifty percent, one additional representative will be added. It has been decided to select at least 5 people, including at least 2 women, from the Pravasi Nepali Sangh India and Pravasi Nepali Sangh International Committees, like the provincial committees.

The method has been amended to select youth under the age of 40 within 1,200, like the geographical district committees, in the district committees under Valley Special and Contact Coordination. Earlier, there was a provision for selecting representatives only from the constituencies. The secretariat meeting has decided to retain the leaders who came from other parties under the return home campaign as representatives of the central committees of those groups under special arrangements.