NC CWEC meet to finalise provincial PR list today

Kathmandu, December 28

The Nepali Congress has called its Central Work Execution Committee’s meeting for the first time after the party’s crushing defeat in the provincial and parliamentary elections.

The meeting of the CWEC, comprising 29 senior Central Working Committee members, will take place at the official residence of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in Baluwatar, at 8:00am tomorrow.

According to NC leader Bal Krishna Khand, the meeting would primarily focus on the selection of members of provincial assemblies under the proportional representation system.

The Election Commission has given time till 3:00pm tomorrow for parties to submit final names of the PR members of provincial assemblies. As the EC requires parties to decide the PR list by their executive committees, or equivalent bodies, the CWEC meet would primarily focus on the same.

The meeting would also dwell on other issues such as the National Assembly Election Ordinance and contemporary politics of the country, said Khand.

The same issues were also discussed today at a meeting between NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba and some of the top NC leaders at the PM’s residence. “The meet also dwelt on the way ahead for the party in the post-election context. “The leaders were of the view that the party should move ahead in a unified manner in the present context,” said Khand.

The leaders present in the meeting included Gopal Man Shrestha, Prakash Man Singh, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Ram Sharan Mahat, Shashank Koirala, Bimalendra Nidhi, Arjun Narsingh KC, and Purna Bahadur Khadka, according to Khand.

The CWEC meeting is being held at a time when NC leaders have been demanding that a meeting of the Central Working Committee be convened to introspect the humiliating loss in the elections and discuss future course of the party for its revival. So, these issues would also be raised during the CWEC meeting, according to an NC leader.

NC leaders, especially the youths, have attributed the party’s election defeat to, among other things, intra-party conflicts as a result of the leadership’s failure to abide by the statute. They have been pressuring the NC top brass to call CWC and Maha Samiti meetings, and ultimately Special General Meeting, to chart the party’s future course.