The Nepali Congress has initiated a campaign to strengthen its organisation in view of the three layers of elections.

The largest party in Parliament has allocated leaders for each of the 75 districts with an intention to widen its support base for the upcoming local-level elections which the government plans to conduct around March-April next year, NC General Secretary Sashank Koirala told the Post.

The leaders, mostly former and current central committee leaders, will visit their allocated districts to study about party’s grip at the grassroots for a month and submit a special report to the NC central office. However, the leaders have not been given duty of their respective home districts.

“Considering the urgency of polls, the government has registered an amendment bill. We will have to hold three layers of elections in no time. The government too plans on local polls within the next four-five months. Thus, along with seeking consensus on the amendment bill, we have also decided to strengthen our support base at the grassroots level,” said Koirala.

The constitution stipulates that the local, state and federal polls be held by January, 2018. Among others, former party general secretary Krishna Prasad Sitaula will oversee Sunsari; Ram Sharan Mahat will head to Dhanusha; Gyanendra Karki to Jhapa; Prakash Sharan Mahat to Chitwan; Shekhar Koirala to Parsa; Purna Bahadur Khadka in Kathmandu; Arjun Narsingh KC to Mugu; Ramesh Lekhak to Kalikot; Gagan Thapa to Humla; Dina Upadhyaya to Dhanusha; Chitralekha Yadav to Mahottari and Pradip Giri to Ramechhap.

NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba, senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel, General Secretary Koirala, Treasurer Sitadevi Yadav, former vice president Gopalman Shrestha and former general secretary Prakash Man Singh have not been assigned any district duties. Narahari Acharya and Sujata Koirala are also not handed any responsibilities due to their health conditions.

The leaders on duty will have to notify whether district, municipal and village councils have a full-fledged working team, how often they sit for meetings, what decisions they make, how their district party office is run and the condition of its infrastructure. They will also have to report on the conditions faced by the locals in the absence of elected representatives for almost two decades. Besides, they will have to study on the performance of the all-party committee formed in the absence of local representatives, the role and responsibility played by NC representatives in it, how development projects are planned and executed.

Khadka said that the decision to send the leaders to districts was taken by the last central committee meeting held more than a month ago. “The party recently allocated leaders respective districts since we may have to hold local polls soon,” said Khadka.