NATIONAL 1 (Spotlight Weekly)]

Advantage Koirala

The first round of party elections shows a clear gain for supporters of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala

By KESHAB POUDEL

Never in its five-decade history has the Nepali Congress seen such deep rifts in the midst of organizational elections.

Despite its claims of being the country's premier democratic party, the Nepali Congress always chose consensus over clashes among multiple candidates during internal elections.

Following the restoration of multiparty democracy, the Nepali Congress has held two general conventions. The first, held in Kalbalgudi, chose Krishna Prasad Bhattarai as the consensus candidate for party president.

Deuba (left) and Koirala : Fight for supremacy

The second general convention, held in the Kathmandu five years ago, elected Girija Prasad Koirala as president. He secured more than 1,100 votes, defeating his rival Chiranjibi Wagle.

This time, too, elections seem inevitable as former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and former deputy prime minister Shailaja Acharya have already announced their candidatures.

The party is clearly divided between supporters of Koirala and Deuba, who is backed by former prime minister Krishna Prasad Bhattarai. Although the Deuba-Bhattarai group made every possible effort to defeat Koirala loyalists, the prime minister's supporters managed to get the upper hand.

The general convention in Pokhara -- which will elect the new party president -- is two months away, but there are indications that Koirala defeat Deuba by a big margin.

In the district-level elections that concluded on November 28, about 150,000 grass-roots workers choose their representatives for the general convention and Mahasamiti.

According to the constitution of the Nepali Congress, every constituency elects seven members for the general convention and three for the Mahasamiti. There are 1435 members elected for the general convention.

Almost all senior leaders and central committee members, including Koirala, Bhattarai, Deuba, Deputy Prime Minister Ram Chandra Poudel, Acharya and general secretary Sushil Koirala, won the preliminary elections.

Some prominent members of the Koirala and Deuba teams lost in the preliminary round. Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Tarini Dutta Chataut - one of the main lieutenants of Prime Minister Koirala - lost the election in the far western region. Some key Deuba supporters like Pradeep Giri did not contest.

In the meantime, both groups are preparing their strategies for the final round. It is said that Deuba's followers outnumber Koirala's in the far western region.

"This is the first time in the history of the Nepali Congress that we have been able to exercise democratic practices in internal elections," says senior advocate Mukunda Regmi. "I am happy that the party workers in the grass-roots level showed the best example of internal democracy."

Although the first phase of elections passed peacefully, the final round may not. The Nepali Congress has just six members who are elected and the party is planning to increase that number.

"The party is considering a plan to allow 50 percent of the places to be filled through elections," says a Congress central committee member.

Groupism in the Nepali Congress is not new. In fact, the party was born in the 1950s when the B.P. Koirala-led Nepali National Congress and the Subarna Sumsher-led Nepali Democratic Congress united. But that was a case of groups joining hands -- not working at cross purposes.

Despite strong efforts by the Deuba-Bhattarai duo, Koirala supporters seem to be leading in the race in the first round of elections. As Deuba supporters are preparing for the second round of the battle, Koirala loyalists are trying to win over people from the Deuba camp.