A day after an inquiry commission that has been investigating the deadly crackdown of the September 8-9 Gen Z protests removed the movement restrictions on KP Sharma Oli, the CPN-UML chief and then prime minister, the party has formally geared up for the March elections.
On Tuesday, the party formed two key panels—manifesto drafting committee and election mobilisation committee—which are essential for participating in the election process. Earlier, the party had been questioning the country’s security situation and accusing the government of cornering political parties, which it said prevented them from preparing for the elections with full confidence.
A secretariat meeting of the party on Tuesday decided to form a committee to draft the party’s manifesto headed by Oli, an election mobilisation committee headed by party vice chair Ram Bahadur Thapa, and to appoint party in-charges to all seven provinces.
Speaking at the meeting, Oli has said the government and some foreign powers are hatching a conspiracy to defer the March elections after Nepali Congress and UML began moving closer.
“The government itself is plotting to postpone the elections,” UML’s deputy general secretary Lekhraj Bhatta, quoting Oli said.
Oli stated that as the UML and Congress were drawing closer, the government and some foreign powers were conspiring either to delay the elections or to hold them in multiple phases, Bhatta said.
In recent days, senior leaders of the Congress and the UML have been in talks about forming an alliance for the National Assembly elections scheduled for January 25. Leaders from both sides have claimed that such a partnership could extend to the upcoming elections to the House of Representatives.
“It seems the atmosphere for elections is being created. We must prepare for it, but there is still no conducive environment for elections,” Oli said.
“The election should be taken as a movement. The activities of the government have created uncertainty. It is not even possible to hold the elections all at once. That means they could be postponed. They could also be held in phases. For that, we need to prepare psychologically.”
Similarly, Oli said foreign intervention has started to appear openly. “Safeguarding Nepal’s existence and national integrity is becoming increasingly challenging, and foreign intervention has started to appear overtly.”
According to Bhatta, Oli also claimed that Supreme Court judges were being continuously pressured and threatened, and efforts were being made to prevent the restoration of Parliament. Oli argued that this raised serious questions about democratic values and principles.
“Because of the strong patriotism and nationalism of the Nepali people, those who tried to portray the events of September 8 and 9 as a great achievement, failed to do so openly.
He stressed the need to actively involve youth at every level, create National Youth Volunteer Forces in every ward and locality, and begin election preparations from the grassroots.
The meeting has decided that party leaders Ram Bahadur Thapa, Bishnu Poudel, Shankar Pokhrel, Ishwar Pokhrel, Pradeep Gyawali and Bishnu Rimal will draft the election manifesto. Likewise, Thapa will lead the election mobilisation committee whose members are Bishnu Rimal, Chhabilal Bishawkarma, Rajan Bhattarai, Hikmat Karki, Ramesh Badal and Bhishma Adhikari.