With an understanding among the top leaders to call a separate meeting of the Central Working Committee to review the party’s poor showing in the recently concluded elections to the House of Representatives and provincial assemblies, the Nepali Congress has directed all its organisations to submit in writing the reasons behind party’s humiliating defeat.

On the basis of the reports, according to leaders, the CWC will hold intensive discussions to find out the reasons behind the party’s electoral rout. The local committees have also been instructed to identify party leaders and cadres who betrayed the candidates during the polls.

Leaders close to both party President Sher Bahadur Deuba and senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel are blaming each other for the poll debacle. There are also reports of intra-party betrayal in the several constituencies with some cases submitted to the party headquarters.

“We have directed village-, municipality- and district-level committees, and candidates of both the federal and provincial assemblies to submit written reports,” said CWC member Prakash Sharan Mahat. After receiving all the reports, the party will call the CWC meeting to review the election results. Before submitting the report, the grassroots committees will hold meetings to review the results at the local level.

For the first time, Deuba confessed at the CWC meeting that the party had failed to perform as expected. He said intensive discussions were necessary to explore genuine reasons behind the poor outcome. Despite calls to hold the CWC without delay, Deuba brushed off the agenda citing the party’s busy time for the National Assembly elections scheduled for February 7.

Though discussion on the poll debacle was not on the agenda, during the CWC meeting on Thursday and Friday, CWC members came down heavily on Deuba.

Leaders said this was a “preliminary review” of the election results, which would be followed by intensive discussions with written documents from the party organisations.

Leaders close to the Poudel faction criticised Deuba’s leadership. Senior leader Poudel, Prakash Man Singh and Shekhar Koirala demanded scrapping of the Parliamentary Board and the Central Executive Committee saying that these bodies were formed against the party statute. Following pressure from party leaders, Deuba has agreed to call a meeting of the Mahasamiti. The PM plans to hold the Mahasamiti meeting in mid-April. The CWC meeting is likely to fix the date for the Mahasamiti gathering.

Along with reviewing the results, the Mahasamiti meeting will also amend the party’s statute to transform the NC organisation into a provincial set-up. Though the country has been divided into seven provinces, the oldest party is yet to form provincial structures.