Congress amends constitution: Central Committee grows to 297 members, senior vice-president post added

The closed session of Nepali Congress's 15th general convention has passed an amended constitution that expands the Central Committee to 297 members. General Secretary Pradeep Paudel presented the amendment proposal at the closed session held at Khula Manch on Monday.

The Central Committee had 167 members until now. Paudel said its size was increased because the number of convention delegates has reached 7,700.

According to spokesperson Devraj Chalise, the new structure will have one president, one senior vice-president and four vice-presidents. The senior vice-president post is newly added, and the number of vice-presidents has risen from two to four. One of the four vice-presidents and one of the three general secretaries must be a woman.

The number of joint general secretaries has been increased from eight to 15, of whom 11 will be elected and four nominated by the president.

Of the Central Committee member seats, 45 are reserved for the open category and 15 for the open women's category. Four members, including one woman, will come from each province, and two, including one woman, from the Kathmandu Valley. Seats are allotted as follows: 14 for Dalits, 20 for Adivasi Janajatis, 18 for Khas Arya and 13 for Madhesis.

The provision also makes it mandatory to give 21 members under the age of 35 a place in the Central Committee. The president will nominate 66 Central Committee members.

Candidate nominations for office-bearers and members are scheduled to begin on Tuesday at 10 am.