Nepali Congress (NC) is set to postpone its general convention.
A meeting of party office-bearers held at the residence of NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba on Saturday has proposed to postpone the 14th general convention scheduled to be held from August 23-26 in Kathmandu by nine days.
Deputy General Secretary Prakash Sharan Mahat told Setopati that the proposal has been made citing the raging COVID-19 pandemic. The general convention is now proposed to be held from September 1-4.
Mahat said the central committee meeting on June 17 will endorse the proposal.
The general convention looked unlikely to be held from August 23-26 as scheduled amidst the raging pandemic with the party yet to finish renewal of active membership and distribution of new ones.
Senior Leader Ram Chandra Paudel and others have been recently urging Deuba to make arrangements to hold the general convention even during the pandemic. Issuing a statement on Wednesday, Deuba assured that it will be held by mid-September.
Deuba, whose four-year term expired in March 2020, had given himself a one-year term extension which meant his term expired on March 3, 2021. The party had also decided to hold the next general convention from February 19-22, 2021. But it could not be held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
NC delayed the general convention further taking help from the Constitution which has a provision of a six-month extension for parties in special circumstances. "Provided that in case election of the office bearers could not be held within five years due to situation arising out of special circumstance, there shall be no hindrance to make provision in the statute of a political party to hold such election within a period of six months," states the provision in Article 269(4b) of the Constitution related to political parties.
The party will violate the Constitution if the general convention were to be delayed beyond September.
