The ruling Nepali Congress has decided to halt all schedule of its 13th general convention until further notice. The party’s conclave was set to take place from September 19 till 22.

A meeting of the NC Central Working Committee (CWC) on Tuesday decided to put off the party’s general convention and focus on the ongoing constitution drafting process, said NC spokesperson Dilendra Badu.

As the party’s central leadership will be busy in the constitution writing process, Badu said, all scheduled village, town ward, town, constituency and district level conventions have been postponed.

The new schedule of these conventions will be made public later by the CWC.  

According to the Interim Constitution, all political parties should convene their general convention once every five years to elect new leadership. The NC has decided to amend the Interim Constitution as well as insert a provision in the new constitution whereby parties could postpone their general conventions by another six months past the five-year term under special circumstances.

The NC has decided to hold talks with other parties to garner their support for amending the Interim Constitution.

The Tuesday’s meeting also discussed the ongoing constitutional deadlock and the protests in southern plain.

Senior leader Sher Bahadur Deuba was of the view that the constitution drafting process should not be stopped at any cost.

The meeting decided to hold talks with the disgruntled sides in order to secure a broad consensus in the constitution writing process.

 The CWC members of the NC denounced the use of violence by protesters and decided to appeal the government to take stern action against those found guilty of violating the law.    

The meeting also decided to impose a prohibition on party lawmakers from tabling separate amendment proposals. If in case of tabling amendment proposal in the Bills of the new constitution, the meeting decided that the proposal must be approved by the party’s chief whip and have two-thirds support.