The main opposition Nepali Congress is divided over picking its candidate for the upcoming by-elections in Ilam constituency 2 and provincial by-elections in Bajhang constituency 1 (A). The discord has pushed the party's top decision-making body into a state of indecision.

Amid this, party President Sher Bahadur Deuba on Tuesday called a meeting of the party parliamentary board first and then of the central work execution committee at his residence, aiming to settle on the candidates for the two polls.

The two factions inside the party—one led by Deuba and another by Shekhar Koirala, who is backed by party’s general secretary Gagan Thapa, Sashank Koirala and others leaders—have been divided over who to pick as candidate for Ilam by-polls, an office bearer of the party told the Post.

While Deuba wants to pick district party president, Damabar Khadka, who had lost the elections in 2022 with CPN-UML’s Subas Nembang, as the candidate, the Koirala faction is for Bhesh Raj Acharya.

Meanwhile, Bishwa Prakash Sharma, another general secretary of the party who recently visited Ilam to take stock of the situation on the ground, has also stood for Acharya, the office bearer said.

In Tuesday’s parliamentary board meeting, both general secretaries insisted that Acharya had a higher electability. But Deuba refused to budge from his position. After that meeting ended inconclusively, Deuba called the meeting of the central work execution committee, where Shekhar Koirala proposed the name of Acharya which was backed by Thapa, Sharma and other leaders. But Deuba refused the proposal, a member of the committee said. Koirala then quit the meeting and left Deuba's residence.

If Khadka is given the candidacy, it would be Deuba's responsibility if the Congress loses the by-polls, Thapa, Sharma, Koiralas and others said at the meeting. Even joint secretary general Bhishma Raj Angdambe, who is close with Deuba, stood in favour of Acharya; following which, Deuba and party's vice president, Purna Bahadur Khadka, softened their tone, the office bearer said.

Thapa, Sharma and Koiralas told Deuba that since Khadka is a tested and failed candidate, the party should field Acharya, who is popular at the grassroot level, for a better chance of winning, said another member of the central work execution committee. “But Deuba refused to accept Acharya’s name.”

Altogether seven names were recommended as possible candidates for the Ilam by-polls; of which, Acharya and Khadka stood on top.

Khadka is the district party president of Ilam and is part of the Deuba faction.

Meanwhile, for Bajhang provincial by-polls, Deuba had forwarded the name of Abhishek Singh, which was also rejected by Thapa-Koirala camp. After a dispute between the two factions, the meeting was called for Wednesday, Min Bishwakarma, head of the publicity department of the party, said.

The dispute in the Congress comes at a time when other parties like CPN-UML and Rastriya Swatantra Party have already announced their candidates and have started door-to-door campaigns in both federal and provincial constituencies. The UML has picked Suhang Nembang as its candidate in Ilam-2 and the RSP Milan Limbu.

The locals and our own party leaders and candidates have been saying that Acharya would be the candidate with better electability, Koirala and Thapa reportedly said in the meeting. In Bajhang, they said, Jagat Joshi would be the ideal candidate.

The Ilam-2 House of Representatives seat is vacant after the demise of former Speaker and Constituent Assembly chairman Subas Chandra Nembang. He died of a heart attack on September 13. The CPN-UML leader had continuously won the constituency since the 1999 general elections.

In the November 2022 poll, Nembang defeated his closest contender Khadka of the Nepali Congress by a narrow margin. While he garnered 30,020 votes, Khadka, who was a common candidate of the Congress-led alliance, managed to get 29,906.

Together with Ilam-2, the by-poll will be held in the Bajhang 1 (A) constituency of Sudurpaschim Assembly. The seat remains vacant after Prithvi Bahadur Singh, a provincial assembly member and also the provincial minister for internal affairs and law, was killed in a road accident in June.

The by-polls are taking place on April 27.