Congress convention prep: foreign guests arrive, delegate fee set, Koirala aides join ward meets

Foreign guests have started arriving in Kathmandu to attend Nepali Congress's 15th General Convention. Chantal Kambiwa, Secretary-General of the Socialist International, arrived in Kathmandu on Wednesday.

The convention, earlier scheduled for Asoj 16, has been postponed by two days. It will now be inaugurated at Khula Manch at 2 pm on Asoj 18, and will run until Asoj 22.

Congress has set a fee of Rs 3,500 for each convention delegate. According to the Election Committee, around 7,000 delegates are expected to take part this time, compared with more than 4,700 delegates at the 14th convention.

Following an amendment to the party statute, the number of delegates to be selected from each House of Representatives constituency has been increased from 26 to 33. While the party will book hotels for delegates, each delegate will have to bear their own lodging costs.

Meanwhile, leaders and cadres close to Dr Shekhar Koirala from the faction of former party president Sher Bahadur Deuba are set to take part in ward-level conventions starting Thursday. Koirala's private secretary Dineshchandra Thapaliya confirmed this. Koirala himself remains neutral.

Ekraj Pokhrel, coordinator of the Deuba faction's Central Election Committee, said district election committees have been instructed to complete the ward conventions from Thursday to Saturday.