The Nepali Communist Party (NCP) has formed a 2,499-member central committee. After the merger between the Maoist Center and the Unified Socialist Party in the last week of Kartik, the process of merging small parties is still ongoing. In this way, the size of the central committee has become larger as small parties are merged.

About 500 people were present at the party central office on Tuesday and others were sworn in virtually in the provinces and districts.

Coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Co-Coordinator Madhav Kumar Nepal were administered the oath by senior member Nanda Kumar Prasain, and the central members were administered the oath by Dahal and Nepal. Although the central committee has 2,499 members, the NCP is preparing to increase the executive committee to 601 members.

Despite the party unification on Kartik 18, the central committee has finally been adjusted. It will take some time to adjust the provinces, districts, municipalities, and fraternal and people's organizations. The NCP claims that all party organizations will be adjusted within a week. It was agreed to hold a general convention within six months in the unity agreement with the Maoists and Unified Socialists.

After taking the oath, Dahal called the unity a historic step and said that it will be further enhanced. 'The nation is in an extraordinary crisis. To face this, we have taken an extraordinary initiative to unite, strengthen national unity, and national independence,' he said, 'We have started to resolve the crisis that arose in the country by integrating nineteen to twenty parties in the history of Nepal.'

Co-coordinator Nepal stated that the work of party building is challenging and instructed the central members to move forward with discipline. 'Party building is a very challenging task,' he said, 'How will we protect our votes in the elections? How will we deal with the irregularities that have emerged in the elections, how will we stop money transactions, all these things will have to be faced.

Small groups seem to be entering the NCP every week. So much so that even a group of three or four people has been recognized as a party and integrated into the NCP. On Monday alone, Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal Vice President Shivlal Thapa's group and Manish Limbu of the Limbuwan Krantikari Party have joined. 

Earlier, after the tussle for a post in the Unified Maoist, then Chairman Dahal had formed a general convention organizing committee with about 4,000 members in November 2016. After widespread criticism, he reduced it to less than 300. 

Former Maoist Secretary Ganesh Sah satirized the newly formed central committee and said that the central committee of the Communist Party had been devalued. ‘The central committee of the Communist Party should formulate policies and take political decisions. There should be a quality of the central committee,’ he said, ‘But now the dignity of the central committee of the NCP is gone. It has devalued the dignity of the NCP. This further weakens the ideological and theoretical level of the central committee.’

Stating that forming a jumbo central committee is not a strange matter for Dahal, Sah said that the same pace has been seen in co-coordinator Madhav Nepal. ‘Prachanda had formed a central committee of 4,000. The party went down in the 2074 elections,' he said, 'The Jatra that never happened is being seen in the NCP, as was said in Handigaun.' 

There is also dissatisfaction within the party over the formation of a large central committee. A senior leader of the NCP said that the reason behind forming an unnaturally large committee is to preserve its political existence. 'No matter what issue is raised, it will be difficult to win the trust of the people. It is difficult to say that this is the best work that has been done by coming to power repeatedly,' a senior leader of the NCP said, 'That is why the door of the NCP has been kept open and unity has been achieved, no matter who comes. The policy and interest behind forming a large committee is to preserve its existence in the upcoming elections at any cost.'

NCP spokesperson Agni Prasad Sapkota said that all central members will be managed by dividing their work up to the ward level of the municipality. He said that a 601-member central working committee will be formed to work on the party's work and a central secretariat will be formed to take important decisions. ‘Central members will be given responsibilities up to the ward level and will be managed,’ he said. ‘The central working committee will have 601 members. Similarly, the central secretariat will be able to make decisions immediately.’ He said that since the party’s strategic issue is elections, it has moved forward in a way that increases the number and produces results.

Another leader of the NCP, Prakash Jwala, said that since this central committee is the organizing committee for the general convention, it will be made more efficient by holding a general convention. ‘This central committee is like the organizing committee for the general convention. There will be a general convention to make the organization more efficient,’ he said. ‘It has become bigger because of the policy of including all those who have come together in the central committee.’

In the 2079 elections, the Maoists became the third party. It won 32 seats in the House of Representatives. The Maoists got 1,175,684 votes. It got 14 seats through proportional representation. The Unified Socialists, which came together, got 298,391 votes. Since it could not get three percent of the total votes cast, it could not become a national party even though it directly won 10 seats.

The CPN, which has 20 parties including the Maoists, Unified Socialists, and Nepal Socialists, has the highest number of central members from the former Maoists. The Maoists have 999 members and the Unified Socialists are second with 735. The Greater Nepal Communist Party, which has come into unity, has only two central members. Similarly, Mahendra Raya Yadav's Nepal Socialist Party has 151, Rajendra Shrestha, who left the JSP Nepal, has 103, and the Civil Liberation Party, chaired by Ranjita Shrestha, has 54 central members.

 Parties that have joined the CPN unity   :

Pushpa Kamal Dahal, CPN (Maoist Center)

Madhav Kumar Nepal, President, CPN (Unified Socialist)

Mahendra Rai Yadav, President, Nepal Samajwadi Party

Rajendra Shrestha, Coordinator, Jaspa Ekta Prakashdhar Group

Raj Karki, President, CPN (Socialist)

Chet Bahadur Pun 'Chiran', General Secretary, Nepal Communist Party

Ranjita Shrestha, President, Civil Liberties Party

Prem Bahadur Singh, President, CPN (Communist)

Shivlal Thapa, Vice President Jaspa Nepal 

Bhim Rawal, proponent, Matrubhumi Jagran Abhiyan, Nepal

Pramod Narayan Yadav, general secretary, Communist Party of Nepal (Workers)

Subas Raj Kafle, chairman, Jana Samajwadi Party Nepal