The standing committee meeting of CPN-UML today decided to hold the party’s ninth general convention on April 22 in Kathmandu.

Party Secretary Shankar Pokharel said the convention will be held two months after the five-year term of the previous convention expires.

A central committee meeting will be held on January 24 to prepare grounds for the convention, he said.

According to party sources, senior leader KP Sharma Oli is contesting against incumbent party Chairman Jhala Nath Khanal for chairmanship. Pokharel, however, said the convention will only focus on electing a new leadership as other issues of the party had already been settled.

The next standing committee meeting scheduled for January 16 will discuss election process of the parliamentary party leader.

Oli is also contesting for the PP leadership and his aides say his faction has backing of around 100 CA members out of the 175 seats the party won. The next standing committee meeting is also expected to discuss names of the 26 government appointed seats in the CA. UML is likely to get about eight seats.

Asked if the party would reschedule the convention if local elections were announced, Pokharel said the convention could be rescheduled for before or after local elections.

Meanwhile, the Bharat Mohan Adhikari-led panel submitted the party’s financial report to the standing committee. According to the report, the party had collected Rs 70 million through donations for the November polls. Of the amount, Rs 68 million was disbursed to candidates contesting under the FPTP and the remaining Rs two million has been kept in Nabil Bank, Global IME, and Agricultural Development Bank.

The party’s central audit commission will examine the report, and the standing committee will approve it before sending it to the Election Commission. Adhikari has pointed out irregularities from local party cadres and leaders while collecting donations, sources said.

“Despite the clear directive to collect donations only through party committees, the candidates were also found to have collected donations on personal basis,” the report said, seeking action against those who had collected donations in violation of the party directive. -The Himalayan

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