Kathmandu, Jan. 2
In order to increase the number of women in the 168-member Central Working Committee of the Nepali Congress to 33 percent, there should be 55 women. The number of women has now reached 43, including two who were nominated on Saturday.
Now there are 23 candidates left to be nominated. Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba will now have to nominate 12 women to bring 33 percent women in the working committee. There is a provision in the NC constitution to nominate 33 members.
Among them, Chairman Deuba on Saturday nominated 10 candidates Ram Chandra Poudel, Prakash Man Singh, Bimalendra Nidhi, Vijay Kumar Gachchhadar, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat, Dr Narayan Khadka, Uma Regmi, Sujata Koirala and Min Bahadur Vishwakarma have been nominated. 2 out of 10 are women.
Earlier, the number of women in the working committee was 41 when 135 people including the chairperson were elected. Out of the 41 candidates to be elected, one was joint general minister, nine from women, seven from each state, seven from women quota, six from Khas Arya women, seven from tribal women, four from Madhesi women, four from Dalit women, two from Tharu women and one from Muslim women. All the elected have come only from the reservation quota.
Apart from reservation and nomination, the number of women in the Congress Central Committee is zero. The Congress has 13 office bearers including one president, two vice presidents, two general secretaries and eight joint general secretaries. According to a source close to Deuba, a source close to Deuba said that the current chairperson Deuba must be nominated as 12 women have to be nominated instead of 23 to nominate 33 percent women in the working committee.
By Muna Chand
