KATHMANDU, June 12: A dispute has emerged over the election process ahead of the 24th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Independent Power Producers' Association, Nepal (IPPAN), scheduled for today (Friday).
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Around 350 members, including IPPAN General Secretary and senior vice president candidate Balram Khatiwada, submitted a petition on June 11 through the association's president, demanding that elections be held only after the AGM formally endorses the amended statute.
The petition states that decisions made by the General Assembly, the organization's highest body, must be implemented. It alleges that despite this obligation, the Election Committee proceeded with the election schedule based on a majority decision of the executive committee, creating further controversy within the association.
Of IPPAN's 681 voters, nearly 350 signed a request urging the association not to move forward with the election until legal and procedural issues were resolved. The petition also objects to the Election Committee's final list of candidates published on June 11, which disqualified vice president candidates Kumar Kharel and Dipak Poudel, as well as secretary candidates Krishna Prasad Ghimire and Birendra Bahadur Malla, all aligned with Khatiwada's panel.
The AGM agenda includes both statute amendments and the election of a new executive committee. The dispute centers on whether the election should be conducted under the amended statute unanimously endorsed by the 23rd AGM or under the previous statute currently in force.
According to the petition, the 21st AGM had formed a five-member statute amendment and redrafting committee led by Bhanubhakta Pokharel. The committee later presented a revised statute to the 23rd AGM, which endorsed it and authorized the association's president to implement the decision.
The petition argues that failure to implement the endorsed statute and the decision to hold elections under the old statute have triggered the current dispute. It further states that the executive committee cannot override decisions made by the General Assembly and that doing so would be legally invalid.
The proposed amendments would end the provision under which the senior vice president automatically becomes president and would allow any eligible member meeting the criteria to contest the presidency, while opening all other positions to direct competition. Petitioners have urged IPPAN to pass the amendments first and then conduct elections with participation from all eligible candidates.
