The Nepali Congress has proposed holding its 15th General Convention in Kathmandu from September 9 to 11. A proposal to this effect was tabled in the party’s Central Working Committee meeting on Tuesday.

After failing to hold the 15th general convention on time, then general secretary duo Gagan Thapa, Bishwa Prakash Sharma and some Congress leaders staged an internal revolt and organised the special convention from January 10 to 12 in Kathmandu. The convention picked Thapa as president, who led the party in the March election.

A large section of the party, led by its immediate past president Sher Bahadur Deuba and leader Shekhar Koirala, did not attend the special convention. Yet some of those from the Deuba and Koirala camps had contested the election on March 5 on the tickets issued by Thapa.

The dispute over the special convention has not been limited to the party: the Deuba faction has already moved the Supreme Court, challenging its legitimacy.

A leader close to the Deuba faction said they want the final verdict from the Supreme Court before going to the general convention.

“If the Supreme Court issues a verdict in our favour, we will organise the convention. If not, it will be overseen by Thapa. However, the situation will be tricky if the court does not pass the verdict before the party’s local convention.”

Soon after the renewal of the party's active membership, the leader close to Deuba said, they would chart out a strategy.

“We will not participate in the regular convention until the Supreme Court delivers the verdict on the legitimacy,” said Shyam Ghimire, a leader close to Deuba, at an event in the Capital on Tuesday.

The special convention elected a new leadership under Thapa, but the party charter makes it mandatory to hold the regular convention within a year of the special convention. As a result, the party is now gearing up to hold the 15th general convention.

After the poll results were out, Thapa had resigned from the position on moral grounds, but the party’s central working committee rejected his resignation on Monday. On Tuesday, Thapa reached the party headquarters for the first time since the March 5 vote. Thapa presented the schedule and stated that the entire party rank and file should now focus on the general convention.

Addressing the meeting, Thapa asserted that he drove the general convention vehicle, and that it would not move backwards.

“As the general convention approaches, no one should hold grudges over who did or did not participate in the special convention. A special convention was held under special circumstances, which gave a new leadership. We participated in the election. The matter of who took part and who did not, before or after the special convention, is now over,” he said.

According to the proposal for the September convention, active membership forms will be distributed to all levels from April 4 until mid-April.

Additionally, representatives will be deployed across the 165 constituencies to coordinate the distribution of membership and updating records.

Similarly, it has been proposed to distribute and update active memberships across all 6,743 wards nationwide from April 14 to May 14.

Each individual will be required to renew their membership from the ward where they are registered. From May 15 to the end of May, it has been proposed that ward committees must submit active membership details to the constituency and district levels.

The active members are considered as primary voters of the Congress who elect the party's leadership at the ward level.

As per the proposed schedule, the Central Membership Management Committee has been entrusted with submitting the final membership list to the Central Working Committee by June 29.

The party has scheduled conventions at the federal and provincial constituencies, districts, provinces, and the central level, too.

In his address, Thapa congratulated the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) on the unprecedented public mandate it received in the House of Representatives elections and said his party would play a constructive role by supporting good work and questioning wrong actions.

He also clarified that he did not resign out of frustration following the election, but rather out of a sense of accountability. Although he wanted to resign immediately after the election, he delayed it due to ongoing electoral processes.

As the team leader during the election, Thapa said he felt responsible to step down.

Thapa also called for an immediate formation of a commission to investigate the assets of political leaders since 1990. During the Central Committee meeting, he said his party would support the new government as the main opposition.

“All those holding public office should have their assets investigated. Those who have accumulated wealth through improper means must be scrutinised,” he said. “The RSP has said it will form a commission. The new government should immediately establish an investigation commission, and we will support it.”

He further stressed the need for impartial investigations into issues such as the wide-body aircraft case, money found in leaders’ homes, and the misuse of public office. He emphasised that such matters should not be treated merely as topics of public consumption but handled through proper legal procedures without bias.

“We will not be in government, but we are in the National Assembly, in the opposition, and present at provincial and local levels. We will support the government’s good initiatives,” Thapa said.