Kathmandu. The Nepali Congress is going to start the practice of ‘primary election’ within the party to select candidates for the upcoming local and state assembly elections. In the upcoming elections, the Congress will select candidates through direct vote of members, public opinion polls and primary election methods.
The Congress is making a new standard for candidate selection by adopting a policy of establishing a political culture among the people with its own election symbol, its own candidate and its own program without forming alliances before the election. Pratap Poudel, Chief Political Adviser of Chairman Gagan Thapa, said that the criteria for the selection of candidates for the primary election will come from the first meeting of the newly elected Central Working Committee.
That criteria determines how the primary election will be. Eight lakh members have joined the digital system. “Congress does not have a problem in taking the opinion of party members through digital means,” he said. Congress has the details of the person who got NC ID.
Congress president Thapa has created a blueprint for restructuring the party from organization to candidate selection, leadership development, internal democracy and relations with the people. Paudel says that the Congress will now select candidates based on merit, contribution, moral conduct and performance rather than faction, access, patronage or financial influence.
“It will be arranged to select three people, including one woman, who will get the most votes from the active members of the relevant levels and regions in the selection of the Congress candidate, and one of them will be selected,” the party’s constitution states.
According to Paudel, the names of three people, including one woman, who were selected by the active members of the relevant level for the local level, come to the relevant working committee. For example, the name of the ward president candidate elected in the primary election is recommended to the higher level by the respective ward working committee with an opinion. The criteria that decide which level of tickets will be decided by which working committee, he said.
In the past, in the Congress, the central working committee of the metropolis, the provincial working committee of the sub-metropolis and municipality, the district working committee of the village council and the regional working committee of the ward used to select candidates.
Poudel said, “It can be changed.” Among the three candidates who won from the primary election, which level of candidate will be decided by which working committee.
If the active member gives the most votes to women, the names of all three should be recommended and sent. If three men get the most votes, the names of the two men who get the most votes and the one who gets the most votes will be sent to the women. The party’s sub-committee, which has the right to decide, will select one of the three candidates.
“The working committee to decide on candidate selection will be based on the basis from the primary election, the opinion of the Leadership Academy and the strategic plan prepared by the Election Bureau,” he said.
According to Poudel, there is also a discussion regarding the participation of citizens in the party’s primary election. Previously, there was a provision in the Congress for local, state and federal elections, where the working committee of the relevant level or region recommended and sent candidates.
The role of the three bodies
The Leadership Academy, the Election Bureau and the Governance Institute will do the work of giving opinions on the selection of candidates. The Congress has entrusted the party’s election bureau with the internal analysis and strategy of the elections for the upcoming local and state elections.
The Election Bureau headed by Deputy Chairman Pushpa Bhusal will make the party’s nationwide election database and election preparation data-based and scientific. The bureau is currently working on preparing a detailed election plan for 753 local levels, 6,743 wards and 7 provincial levels.
The Election Bureau will be responsible for making the candidate selection system scientific and factual by analyzing the voters and the situation. Similarly, the Leadership Academy is developing a course on leadership development. According to Paudel, the Leadership Academy sets the minimum requirements for a person (candidate) who wants to perform public duties.
The leadership will be selected soon in the Leadership Academy under Niti Foundation. The Congress is drafting the criteria for selecting candidates at the local level. Three bodies are involved in our candidate selection. “Leadership Academy works on what should be done for leadership,” Paudel said, “Election Bureau does work related to election strategy.” The Governance Institute decides what to do before and after going to the local and state governments.”