NC parliamentary party endorses its statute

Nepali Congress (NC) parliamentary party (PP) meeting passed its long-delayed statute on Wednesday.

The PP statute has a provision for a deputy leader of the PP for the first time. According to NC lawmaker Ramesh Lekhak, who was also involved in drafting the statute, there is a provision for proportionate representation in the parliamentary working committee, which will have 12 members elected by PP members, 5 members elected from each development region and 6 members including two women nominated by the parliamentary leader.

With the deputy leader, chief whip, whip and general secretary of the party as ex-officio members, the working committee will have 27 members. Minister for Parliamentary Affairs will also be an ex-officio member at a time when the party is in the government.

The parliamentary leader will nominate the deputy leader and it should be approved by the PP. However, the statute is unclear about what happens if the nominated deputy leader is rejected by the PP. At least one of the deputy leader, chief whip or whip should be a woman.

The statute will come into effect after the approval of the central working committee of NC. The endorsement of the statute has opened avenue for the election of PP leader. NC PP has been without an elected leader for almost a year since the election of the Constituent Assembly in April last year.

Although a statute draft committee led by party general secretary Bimalendra Nidhi had prepared the statute more than a month ago, it had not been endorsed due to differences in the procedure of selecting the deputy leader.

Vice president Ram Chandra Poudel chaired the meeting as party president Girija Prasad Koirala didn't turn up. nepalnews.com ta Feb 04 09