• The party decided to dissolve parliamentary board, central work execution committee

Kathmandu, April 29

The Nepali Congress today officially attributed the party’s humiliating defeat in the provincial and parliamentary elections to the formation of the left alliance by the CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist Centre across the nation, and the tie-up between the Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal and Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal in Province 2.

The party decided that the Central Working Committee would take the responsibility of election defeat.

The CWC meeting, which ended today, took a decision to this effect following days of dispute between the establishment faction led by NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba and factions led by senior leader Ramchandra Paudel and Krishna Prasad Sitaula.

While the Paudel and Sitaula camps wanted Deuba to take the responsibility for election defeat, Deuba had been shrugging it off, arguing that candidates, and not the party, lost elections given the increase in the number of votes the party garnered under the proportional representation electoral system.

NC youth leaders would have written a note of dissent if Deuba had not taken the responsibility of the defeat, but agreed not to do so after the CWC decision included that ‘the opinions presented by CWC members in relation to the election loss will be discussed further’, according to an NC leader present in the meeting.

The CWC also decided to hold NC district president gathering in mid-June and Maha Samiti meeting in August-September. The party will also form a statute amendment committee to re-organise the party structure in line with the federal set-up.

The CWC directed the party’s disciplinary committee to initiate investigation into cases of betrayals during the provincial and parliamentary elections.

According to NC Spokesperson Bishwa Prakash Sharma, the party decided to dissolve the parliamentary board and central work execution committee, bowing to the wishes of the rival factions, who had claimed that they were set up in breach of the party statute.

Other reasons for the party’s poll loss, as per the CWC decision, are candidate selection without necessary preparations, betrayal and indiscipline, failure to give full shape to party organs, weaknesses in internal management, failure to exploit social media and other media for promotion, and failure to effectively communicate to the people the good works of the NC-led governments.

“The meeting also decided that the party’s failure to effectively oppose the border blockade was another reason for election defeat,” said Nepali Congress Spokesperson Bishwa Prakash Sharma at a press conference after the conclusion of the CWC meeting.

The NC CWC also decided to launch an ‘Integrated National Awareness Campaign’, under which programmes would be run to ensure the party plays effective and responsible opposition’s role in the federal and provincial assemblies, conduct training programmes for party members from top to local levels, make the party popular among people of several generations and backgrounds, and make effective the party’s sister organisations.

The NC CWC drew the government’s attention to the need to ensure that all three levels of governments allowed freedom of press and speech and maintained independence of the judiciary.

The party has called a meeting of elected CWC members tomorrow.

Party sources said the meeting was called to fill vacant office bearers’ posts.