The selection of party representatives for the upcoming 11th general convention of the CPN-UML has become another source of discord between the factions led by party Chairman KP Sharma Oli and Senior Vice-chair Ishwar Pokhrel.

The UML is holding its 11th convention from December 13 to 15 in Kathmandu and is busy selecting delegates who will elect its new leadership.

Oli and Pokhrel have already announced their race for the party chair. The current chairman, Oli, is challenged by Pokhrel, who has the backing of former President Bidya Devi Bhandari. She was a vice-chair of the UML until being elected the head of state in 2015.

After the Oli faction became dominant in selecting representatives for the party convention, a group of senior leaders supporting Pokhrel went to Gundu, Bhaktapur to meet Oli on Tuesday. They registered their complaints and grievances but returned without receiving any satisfactory response from Oli.

“In Dhankuta and Okhaldhunga, the Oli faction cancelled the election, to which we express our serious reservation,” said Vice-chairman Surendra Pandey, who was also a part of the delegation.

Leaders including Pokhrel, and Vice-chairs Pandey, Asta Laxmi Shakya, and Yogesh Bhattarai, reached Oli’s residence to draw his attention to the disputes that occurred in the selection of delegates in various districts.

The Pokhrel faction says there are issues that need to be addressed immediately.

“As per the reports we have received, elections were not fair in 15 districts where the Oli camp tried to stop our people from winning,” Pandey told the Post. Disputes in Okhaldhunga, Dhankuta, and Dang are more serious.

In Okhaldhunga, only delegates close to Pokhrel had been selected, while in Dhankuta only Oli’s faction secured positions. In Dang only those aligned with Shankar Pokhrel were chosen.

“We have objected to the decisions made against the established procedure of selecting representatives and to the cancelling of results in areas where elections have already taken place,” said Pandey.

He said they raised the issue to ensure fairness and impartiality in the intra-party elections which will have a direct impact on the upcoming general convention.

Pokhrel complained that in Dang and Dhankuta, supporters of his faction had been sidelined, and that representatives were selected unilaterally.

In the UML’s 11th general convention, both Oli and Pokhrel are preparing to form separate panels.

But Vice-chairman Pokhrel and other office bearers were not satisfied with Oli’s response. It was the same usual response, nothing about addressing our grievances, said Pandey.

The Pokhrel camp objected to the decision of the organisation department that rejected the representatives selected in several districts, including Okhaldhunga, and directed them to initiate a new election process. The Pokhrel faction had reportedly swept the elections in Okhaldhunga.

Likewise, Pokhrel also expressed reservations over selecting representatives from the newly formed National Volunteer Force which is not yet recognised as the party’s sister organisation.

From the convention, the party will elect 15 office bearers like a 251-strong central committee. As many as 2,400 elected representatives from across the country are expected to take part in the convention that will elect the new leadership.

Meanwhile, UML Deputy General Secretary Bishnu Rimal has claimed that the party’s 11th general convention will once again elect Oli as chairman. Though the UML had set a two-term limit and 70-year age bar for holding an executive post in the party, the provision was removed from the policy convention earlier this year. If elected, the septuagenarian Oli will lead the party for the third term.

Speaking at an event organised by Press Chautari Nepal in Kathmandu on Thursday, Rimal said the UML had already reached a conclusion that Oli will be made chairperson again.

The party will immediately address the complaints regarding the selection of representatives for the convention, he added.

Rimal, who worked as chief adviser to Oli during his premiership twice, said because the UML is guided by Oli’s policy, he deserves to lead it again.