Nepali Congress (NC) has amended election directives ahead of the ward convention after central member Min Bishwokarma resigned expressing reservations pointing it does not guarantee fair representation of Dalits.
It has been amended following discussion among NC president Sher Bahadur Deuba, Senior Leader Ram Chandra Paudel, Joint General Secretary Prakash Sharan Mahat, central member Minendra Rijal and others at Baluwatar Thursday. It now guarantees a Dalit at the ward committee and a Dalit constituency representative.
The amendment has been made after Bishwokarma, who also heads the Nepal Dalit Association, resigned and Dalit committees inside the Kathmandu Valley demonstrated in front of the central office in Sanepa pointing that the new directives could lead to zero Dalit representation at the ward level.
The amendment ensures that one ward committee member and constituency representative will be added from the clusters of women, Dalits, indigenous ethnicities, Khas-Aryas, Madhesis, Muslims, Tharus, minorities or people with disabilities if there are active members from the clusters in the ward if there is a situation that no one from the clusters are elected during the convention.
The Dalits had protested after the new directives removed the provision kept before the 13th general convention that guaranteed a Dalit representative from every ward and made Dalit representation mandatory only if the ward has Dalit population of at least 16 percent.
Min Bishwokarma stated that the mistake has been corrected through the amendment.
The 14th general convention of NC is scheduled to be held from November 25-29 in Kathmandu. The ward level election will be held across the country from September 3.
