Only about 200,000 members have joined the membership update campaign launched by the Congress to digitally transform the party in one and a half months. Due to internal disputes in the party, joining other parties and attempts to hide their identities, the number of members is expected to decrease more than during the general convention.

However, Congress General Secretary Pradeep Poudel, who is also the coordinator of the campaign, claimed that about 500,000 memberships will be updated by 21 Jestha.

The campaign, which started on 1 Baisakh, has a deadline of 21 Jestha. There were 850,000 active members in the 14th general convention of the Congress. The highest number of them were from Bagmati Province. The lowest membership was from Karnali Province with 54,000 and the Far West with 74,000 members.

General Secretary Poudel said that the least number of members have been updated so far in Madhesh Province. 114,000 delegates from Madhesh participated in the previous general convention. The next few that will be updated the least are Sudurpaschim and Karnali. Lumbini and Gandaki provinces are the ones that are updating the most. Bagmati is the only one after that.

The Congress is going to update the membership targeting the upcoming Central General Convention to be held from 9 to 14 Asoj. Active membership is the party's primary voter. Active members elect regional representatives from the wards and the elected representatives elect the Central Working Committee including the Central President. That is why the issue of updating has become controversial in the Congress.

Former President Sher Bahadur Deuba, former Acting President Purna Bahadur Khadka and leader Shekhar Koirala, members of their group and most of the workers who are not in favor of the special general convention have not yet participated in the update campaign.

Other party leader Prakash Sharan Mahat says that the work of updating the membership that has been renewed once has raised doubts. Five months ago, membership renewal and new membership distribution were also held for the 15th general convention.

The number of renewals by the third week of last December was 500,000 and the number of new memberships was 150,000. General Secretary Poudel said that a campaign has been started to update the same 650,000 members. He said that apart from updating the old ones, no new memberships will be distributed in the current campaign. However, there is a suspicion that the establishment is trying to influence the general convention by forcing members to update their membership again within five months.

Khadka (including the Deuba group) and many leaders of the Koirala faction, who did not participate in the special general convention held at Bhrikutimandap on 27-30 December, have not only not updated their memberships, but are also carrying out parallel activities.

Meanwhile, President Gagan Thapa has proposed Khadka and Koirala as senior leaders. 19 people who were in their favor were nominated to the central committee on 28 Baisakh. However, both leaders have publicly expressed dissatisfaction saying that they were nominated without consulting them. A leader from the other party said that they too have replied that they will not take senior leaders.

Even though the Supreme Court recognized the Thapa-led Central Working Committee that emerged from the special general convention on 4 Baisakh, the leaders of the other parties have not joined the party. They demand a unanimous agreement for unity. They say that unity should be based on institutional share distribution as before. The establishment party, on the other hand, has been adding leaders who did not participate in the special general convention on an individual level, saying that it will end the share distribution of 60 and 40.

Leader Mahat says that the membership update has raised doubts about the fairness of the general convention and that it should be stopped and a joint organizing committee should be formed. He said that the demands are to hold the general convention based on the renewal made five months ago, to form an organizing committee including leaders from both sides to make the general convention fair, and to form an election, discipline and membership investigation committee by consensus. ‘There are no other demands.’ If this is not achieved, I will not leave, but I do not think that other friends will stay here,' Mahat said, hinting that the party could even split in such a situation. 'It is in Gaganji's hands to decide whether to unite the party or let it lead to division.'

Leader Koirala also says that membership renewal should not be made mandatory. Saying that taking the party to digital can be done even after the general convention, he said that the upcoming 15th general convention should be made up of members who have already been renewed and distributed. 'The central working committee formed from the 14th general convention and the central working committee formed from the special general convention should be integrated to form a single structure,' Koirala had said while making public a five-point proposal on 11 Jestha.

Koirala himself has been saying that he will not update the membership. Similarly, a large number of leaders including the then acting president Khadka, former office bearers Prakash Man Singh, Bimalendra Nidhi, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Shashank Koirala, Vijay Kumar Gachhadar, Prakash Sharan Mahat, NP Savad, Bir Bahadur Balayar and others have been saying that they will not update. They have also been urging leaders and cadres at the district, regional and ward levels not to apply for the new update.

General Secretary Poudel said that although the update was low earlier, it has been increasing recently, thinking that it was to make the membership more convenient. He said that in recent days, 20-22 thousand members are being updated daily. When asked why the membership that was renewed five months ago for the 15th General Assembly is being updated again, Poudel said that the party does not have any details about the membership, that in some constituencies there are not even votes equal to the active membership, and that the update is being done to make the party's activities effective through social media.

‘There have been complaints of interference in many places in the last election. But it was difficult to prove it. In 17 constituencies across the country, fewer votes have been received than the active membership,’ Poudel said, ‘Out of 850,000 party members, not even one lakh have a telephone number, and there have been repeated cases. Some do not even have full numbers. The party believes that if they can be connected to the digital system with complete details, they can have a greater impact in the upcoming local and provincial elections.’

When asked why the work that can be done after the general convention is being done now, Poudel said, ‘It is binding when it is done before the general convention. Everyone does it. After the general convention is over, the thought comes that it will happen whether you do it or not.’ That is why it has been said that members who do not update their membership will not be allowed to participate in the general convention.'

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'Membership update for digital transformation of the party'

- Pradeep Poudel, General Secretary and Coordinator of the Membership Update Campaign

Why update renewed members again?

There is a provision in the statute that allows action to be recommended to those who do not cooperate with candidates in the election. However, despite allegations of interference in many places, it was difficult to prove it. In some places, no votes were cast according to the number of active members.

For example, Jhapa-5 has 7,900 active members. Not more than 1,800 votes were cast. In Saptari-2, out of 7,100 members, not more than 4,200 did. There are 17 such constituencies. Since it was not possible to prove who did not vote or did not cooperate, it was necessary to update them again to get a commitment from the members.

Who will be updated?

Only those who are already members will be updated. About 500,000 memberships were renewed during the preparation for the 15th General Convention. In addition, there are about 1.5 million members who were entered into the system as new members. Those 6.5 million members are going to be updated.

What does it mean to re-commit to membership?

During the update, the member has to fill out a form. In it, there is a commitment that ‘I will actively participate in the Nepali Congress campaign, vote in the elections and will not engage in activities that will weaken the party.’ Along with that, details such as name, address, telephone number, social media ID, family voter number, citizenship number, national identity card number, voter number, qualification, contribution to political movements are kept.

Why was the update done despite the opposition, couldn’t it have been done after the General Convention?

The party currently does not have a systematic digital statement. There are only about 1.5 lakh telephone numbers. Many of them are duplicated or incomplete. There are no social media details. If members can be connected digitally, it will be easier to exchange party information. With the increasing influence of digital media in politics, the aim is that Congress should also be digitized.

Another important aspect is the preservation of history. There are leaders within the party who have spent a long time in prison since hijacking a plane. The attempt is to document and preserve their contributions. It is not an attempt to erase history, but to preserve it. Updating before the general convention is mandatory. Everyone does it. After the general convention, everyone thinks that it will be done later. It is not mandatory. That is why it is being tried to do it now.