The NC parliamentary board that began holding close-door meetings since Tuesday to select candidates for each constituency finished discussions on the nominations sent from some 50 districts as of Thursday evening. [break]
“We hope to complete discussions on the nominations made from the remaining 25 districts and prepare a final list of candidates by Sunday,” said NC parliamentary board Spokesperson Krishna Prasad Sitaula.
Sitaula, who is also party´s general secretary, said the names of candidates, both under first-past-the-post (FPTP) and proportional electoral system, would be made public on the same day.
“We haven´t finalized the candidates for any districts yet as reported in some media. We are still holding discussions on nominations made from various districts,” he further said.
Earlier, NC had asked party´s district committees to recommend names of three candidates under the FPTP and five candidates under proportional electoral system from each 240 constituencies. Though the party´s headquarters received over 5,000 nominations from across the country, the party had failed to start selection process as of Monday due to failure to form parliamentary board that is mandated by the party´s statute to pick poll candidates.
The selection of poll candidates began after two factions led by President Sushil Koirala and rival faction led by Sher Bahadur Deuba reached an agreement to give full shape to the body with Koirala side agreeing to include additional four members from Deuba faction in the 14-member body. The parliamentary board has been holding day-long intensive discussions to settle the names amid pressing EC deadlines to submit the candidacies.
As per the adjustment made by the Election Commission in the calendar of events on Thursday, political parties should file candidacy for proportional electoral system on September 30 and under the FPTP electoral system on October 3.
“We are working hard to announce the final list of poll candidates from our party by Sunday in view of the deadlines set by the Election Commission,” Sitaula further said. The NC then plans to forward nomination letters of candidates to the concerned districts to field candidates by the scheduled date.
Asked if the candidates were selected based on the power sharing between the two factions within the party, Sitaula said the selection of candidates have been made in consensus.
“This is strictly based on the merit of the candidates, their contribution to the party and suggestions received from the concerned district committee,” he further said.
Sitaula also asked all party leaders and cadres, who are currently in Kathmandu, to return home to strengthen party´s organizational hold and expedite election campaign for November poll. “What I want to tell the party leaders and cadres is their meeting with the top leaders now won´t bring any changes in the candidate selection process,” he added.
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