Statute amendment agenda dominates UML politburo meeting

Kathmandu, July 18: The politburo meeting of the CPN UML discussed a proposal for amendments to the party statute. At the meeting held at party office in Lalitpur on Friday, Vice Chairman Bishnu Prasad Paudel presented the proposed amendments on Friday.     

Lal babu Pandit, Dr Rajan Bhattarai, Kashinath Adhikari, Kiran Gurung, Sherdhan Rai, Khagaraj Adhikari, and Karna Bahadur Thapa spoke on the statute amendment proposal. During the meeting, Prime Minister and Party Chairman KP Sharma Oli spoke on the current political developments, government activities, and the party statute.     

Head of the UML publicity department, Rajendra Gautam, informed that the party’s main focus at present is the statute convention.     

Chairman Oli urged party leaders to play a constructive and positive role in the process of drafting party statute. The proposed statute amendments include the removal of the age limit of 70 years and the two-term limit as stated in Article 64 of the party statute (2078 BS amendment).     

Similarly, the amendment proposal is for the number of central committee members at 251, including 15 office bearers. The proposal also establishes a three-tier structure, consisting of the Standing Committee, the Politburo Committee, and the Central Committee.     

The meeting proposed two types of party members: general members and organizational members. After removing the members affiliated with sister organizations, only those trained by the party will be recognized as organizational members. In the politburo meeting, General Secretary Shankar Pokhrel presented the organizational report, highlighting that the party’s organizational strength is increasing with a 15 percent rise in organizational membership.     

“Based on current party membership and renewals, there has been nearly a 15 percent increase. Data collection is ongoing, and we will release all records once it is finalized,” Pokhrel said.     

The meeting will convene again at 11:00 am on Saturday.     

The second Statute Convention of the UML is scheduled to take place on September 5 to 7 in Godavari, Lalitpur.(RSS)