Nepali Congress General Convention Message: Unity Essential

By Anil Giri
[List of winning candidates]
For the record: With the final election results of the Nepali Congress on Monday (27 Sept) giving a verdict for a mixed composition of its 61-member new Central Working Committee (CWC) for a four-year term, maintaining ‘unity’ and working in tandem on national issues will be a serious challenge to both the Sushil Koirala and Sher Bahadur Deuba camps. The neck-to-neck competition and sizeable representation of the Deuba camp (29 CWC members) in the CWC may serve as a strong opposition to the Koirala camp (32 CWC members) in the party.

As the elected president, Koirala has the authority to nominate another 21 CWC members, subject to the approval of CWC. Many party insiders are hoping that the president uses his prerogative to heal the party after a divisive election.

One interesting feature of the election is that a majority of the new faces in CWC from the open and zonal seats are of the Deuba faction. Shanker Bhandari, Manmohan Bhattarai, Surendra Pandey, Jeevan Bahadur Shahi and Kishor Singh Rathor are the pro-Deuba new faces in the CWC.

The Koirala camp has secured 14 seats in the open category, 9 in zonal seats, 10 in reserved seats while the Deuba camp bagged 11 in the open category, 5 in zonal seats and 12 in reserved seats. There is speculation that some elected CWC members who contested the election from the Koirala camp but had been close to the Deuba camp, could return to the Deuba faction.

The Deuba camp is in a wait and watch mode. It wants to see how Koirala uses his prerogative in balancing the new composition of the CWC. “There were many interpretations of this election. One positive note is that our leadership frankly accepted the challenges where we enjoyed the democratic exercise. Now, we have to see whether the party can create space for some indispensable faces who lost the elections or did not enter the fray,” newly elected CWC member  Pradip Giri said.

According to Giri, there would be immense pressure on young leaders like Gagan Thapa and Kishor Rathor to protect the party from either extreme. The Deuba camp is expecting an honourable representation in the appointment of the 21 CWC seats.

However, Gagan Thapa, the man of the election, said that “the verdict is loud and clear. It was a balanced verdict for both old and news faces and now the ball is in our court.”

A lieutenant of Deuba, Bal Krishna Khand, said that the message of the 12th general convention was ‘unity’, which depends on how the Koirala camp reacts to the attendance of the rival Deuba faction. “For the sake of the nation and the future of the party, we have no option but to have a unified NC. The cooperation of both factions in every crucial agenda is a must and we have to work together. In this, president Koirala has a vital role to play,” he said.

Newly elected Central Working Committee members

Open competition category:

1.    Gagan Thapa (2,061)

2.    Arjun Narsingh KC (2,034)

3.    Khum Bahadur Khadka (1,791)

4.    Dr. Shashank Koirala (1,767)

5.    Pradip Giri (1,741)

6.    Sujata Koirala (1,739)

7.    Ram Chandra Paudel (1,703)

8.    Ram Sharan Mahat (1,699)

9.    Bal Krishna Khand (1,606)

10.    N. P. Saud (1,556)

11.    Shekhar Koirala (1,531)

12.     Mahesh Acharya (1,501)

13.     Minendra Rijal (1,435)

14.     Prakash Sharan Mahat (1,386)

15.     Krishna Sitaula (1,373)

16.     Chandra Bhandari (1,368)

17.     Narayan Khadka (1,340)

18.     Gopal Shrestha (1,286)

19.     Bal Bahadur KC (1,286)

20.     Purna Khadka (1,246)

21.     Shankar Bhandari (1,219)

22.     Kul Bahadur Gurung (1,155)

23.     Manmohan Bhattarai (1,080)

24.     Gyanendra Karki (1,168)

25.     Deep Kumar Upadhyay (1,026)

In the zonal category:

1.    Narendra Bikram Nembang,

Mechi.(1,300)

2.    Amod Prasad Upadhyaya,

Koshi (1,275.)

3.     Ram Kumar Chaudhary,

Sagarmatha (1,075)

4.    Ananda Prasad Dhungana,

Janakpur (1,159)

5.    Navindra Raj Joshi,

Bagmati (1,375)

6.    Ramesh Rijal,

Narayani (1,089)

7.    Surendra Pd. Pandey,

Gandaki (1,017)

8.    Arjun Pd. Joshi,

Dhaulagiri (1,289)

9.    Krishna Chandra Nepali,

Lumbini (1,080)

10.    Jeevan Bahadur Shahi,

Karnali (1,308)

11.    Deepak Giri,

Rapti (1,409)

12.     Kishor Singh Rathor,

Bheri (1,049)

13.    Badri Pandey,

Seti (1,124)

14.    Dilendra Pd. Badu,

Mahakali (1,427)

In reserved quotas:

Women:

1.     Pushpa Bhusal (1,470)

2.     Mina Pandey (1,419)

3.     Kamala Devi Panta (1,242)

4.     Ambika Basnet (1,103)

5.    Mahalaxmi Upadhaya

Dina (1,007)

6.    Ishwori Neupane Dina (832)

Indigenous nationality:

1.    Bhishmaraj Angdambe (834)

2.    Suryaman Tamang (724)

3.    Dhanraj Gurung (667 )

4.    Sita Gurung ( 1003)

5.    Ratna Sherchan ( 878)

Dalit:

1.    Min Bahadur Bishwokarma (1,445)

2.    Man Bahadur Bishwokarma (1,421)

3.    Jiban Pariyar (959)

4.    Sujata Pariyar (1,640)

5.    Kabita Sardar (1,237)

Madhesi:

1.    Umakanta Chaudhari (1,089)

2.    Ajaya Chaurasia (963)

3.    Mahendra Yadav (914)

4.    Parbati D.C. Chaudhari (1,414)

5.    Minakshi Jha (1,395)

Muslim

1.    Mohammed Aftab Alam