Deuba faction in Nepal to hold parallel party convention — Kathmandu Post

In Nepal, the faction of former Nepali Congress party president Sher Bahadur Deuba has decided to hold a parallel general convention after the party leadership headed by Gagan Thapa refused to halt its own preparations for a convention. As Kathmandu Post reports, Deuba’s faction plans to begin conventions at the local committee level on October 1 and hold the central convention on December 7–9.

Shashank Koirala, coordinator of the faction’s organising committee, said that preparations would proceed according to the established schedule. According to him, Deuba’s supporters initially sought to hold a unity convention, but when that became impossible, they began preparing their own.

Dispute over leadership

The conflict is linked to the legal status of a special general convention held in January, at which Gagan Thapa was elected party president. The Election Commission recognised this leadership, and Nepal’s Supreme Court upheld that recognition in April.

Later, Deuba and former acting president Purna Bahadur Khadka were granted permission to ask the Supreme Court to review the case. The review renewed the dispute, although the previous court ruling remains in force for now.

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Thapa’s wing is continuing preparations for the party’s 15th general convention, scheduled for October 2–5. Its local committee-level conventions began on September 19. General Secretary Pradip Paudel said it was difficult to change the October dates because the earlier Supreme Court order specifically referred to preparations for the convention during that period.

Preparations by Deuba’s faction

Deuba’s faction insists that the 15th convention must be organised by the leadership elected at the 14th general convention. At the same time, Thapa’s group considers the special convention legally recognised.

Faction representative NP Saud said his side began its own preparations after its opponents had already launched the convention process, taking into account the possible outcome of the case review. According to Dipak Kuikel, the faction appointed election coordinators in 56 districts and submitted to the election committee data on 783,836 active party members. Of these, 573,269 renewed their membership, while 210,567 obtained membership for the first time.

More than 30 politicians who had previously supported Deuba agreed to join the convention process led by Thapa. This happened after his supporters proposed including in the process members elected following the 14th convention.