The newly-established Nepal Communist Party (NCP) started inducting new members in its 441-member Central Committee on Sunday, with the CPN-UML picking additional 45 leaders.

NCP leaders have agreed to induct 241 leaders from the then UML and 200 leaders from the then Maoist Centre in the committee. As the UML already had 200 leaders in the committee, it was supposed to add 41 leaders.

According to a party source, two members—Radha Mainali and Rup Narayan Shrestha—who were part of the UML’s central committee have been excluded from the NCP central committee. Apart from the members of the House of Representatives and National Assembly, the UML had 198 central committee members giving scope to induct 45 new members.

According to NCP leader Bishnu Rijal, who is among the UML members inducted to the new party’s central committee, NCP Co-chair and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal have been apprised of the decision to add new members. “The party’s standing committee meeting made the decision on Saturday night after the leaders were designated the rights,” Rijal told the Post. The party has not disclosed some of the names.

The quota allocated to the leaders of the then Maoist Centre remains unfulfilled. Given that the party did not have designated central committee, it needs to zero in on names of all 200 members to be inducted into the NCP. According to leader Pampha Bhusal, NCP Co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Central Secretariat members Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Ram Bahadur Thapa have been given the responsibility of picking names from the then Maoist Centre.

With many hopefuls in the party vying for the limited seats, selecting leaders for the central committee looks a difficult task.

But Bhusal maintained that the selection process would be smooth, saying that they had finalised on some of the names. “The senior leaders will come out with a decision on the matter by Tuesday,” she added. According to Rijal, the newly inducted members of the NCP Central Committee will be announced after the two faction of the dissolved party complete the selection process. Meanwhile, the two parties are also doing homework to fill a 45-member Standing Committee, with 26 coming in from the then UML and 19 from the then Maoist Centre. As the UML had the same number of leaders in its standing committee, it is expected to retain those members.