Three months after the competition of elections to the House of Representatives (HoR) and Provincial Assemblies (PA), the Nepali Congress (NC) has called a Central Working Committee (CWC) meeting on March 23 to review party’s performance in those polls. NC Party Office Secretary Krishna Poudel on Saturday informed CWC members that the main agenda of the meeting is to review the election result. 

Pressure has been mounting on Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba to call a CWC meeting to review party’s election results. The party has held a couple of CWC meetings since the elections, but none of them had discussed extensively on party’s poor performance in the polls. 

Amid growing voice from the party rank and file, Deuba assured party leaders of a serious revision of election results and action against those found guilty of intra-party betrayal. 

“Since the elections results we have been demanding for a CWC meeting to find out the reasons behind party’s poor showing. The party office has informed us this meeting is being held for the same purpose,” said CWC member Gagan Thapa. 

The NC has already instructed its district and grass-root committees to submit their respective reports regarding the party’s performance in the elections. According to leaders, the Central Office has received reports from almost all districts and electoral constituencies. After a thorough study of those reports, the party committee will present a comprehensive report at the CWC meeting on the poll debacle.  

The CWC is also expected to take action against those leaders who were involved in non-cooperation or defeating party candidates in several places. Ram Chandra Poudel and Ram Sharan Mahat, among other senior leaders, are claiming that there had been non-cooperation from the rival camp in the elections. 

“We faced a huge loss and the CWC must dig out the reasons behind it,” said Thapa. 

The CWC meeting is also expected to call a meeting of the Mahasamiti, the body mandated to make policy decisions of the party. The party leadership has been facing huge pressure to convene such meeting to reshape party’s political, social and economic policies. 

The Mahasamiti meeting will also take a decision on party structures as per the new provisions in the constitution. According to leaders, NC President Deuba is likely to make a proposal about appointments of party’s general secretary, vice-president and joint general secretary. The party was supposed to make those appointments immediately after the party’s General Convention in 2016. Rival factions of party led by Ram Chandra Poudel and Krishna Prasad Sitaula, however, suspect the Deuba camp of biding time to consolidate power in the party in the pretext of providing a full-shape to the party structures. 

Despite calls to step down as party head, Deuba won the election to Parliamentary Party leader last week with an overwhelming majority. 

Convening the General Conventions of party’s sister organisations is another major agenda of the party. Party’s sister organisations, including Nepal Tarun Dal, Nepal Student Union are facing problems due to the delay in appointments of their central and provincial structures.