Respected Chairman,

On the eve of the 10th party convention,the central committee has dissolved some of the elected district committees and nominated members who toe their line to the now vacant positions. This raises questions and is against the democratic principles of the party. Since then, party members and followers have raised questions expressing concern over whether the elections are going to be free and fair.

We, in our many central committee meetings, had agreed to tackle these problems once and for all and hold free and fair elections. But every time we come to an agreement, that agreement is immediately broken. Breaking agreements seems to be the new trend in the party. This is a matter of grave concern for the party. In the last committee meeting, we had come to an understanding agreement and agreed to work on it, but it seems that nothing that was mentioned was carried out and the agreement has been broken. Harinath Bastola was asked by the party to study and solve the problems concerning the party voters lists. He has now resigned and according to his resignation letter it seems that a lot of irregularities and malpractice are taking place in publishing the voters' lists against the decisions taken by the party.

Similarly, it was agreed that the election committee would work in consensus, but again we find that this was not done and Bimalendra Nidhi and Gyan Bahadur Karki have had to resign from the election committee. Party leaders like Deuba, Khum Bahadur, Wagle and Gachhedar have held the present leadership responsible for the crisis and have stated that this has led to genuine and hardworking party members being sidelined. They have mentioned this in a statement released by them. The president should take notice of this statement, understand it and take corrective action and see to it that the party is not harmed in any way.

I humbly want to petition the president and state that the responsibility of holding the 10th party convention in a free and fair manner lies with you. I would also request the president to remain neutral and hold the 10th party convention in Pokhara as agreed upon earlier and then only move to the elections to be held for the VDC, district, towns and regional bodies. If the party elections are not perceived to be free and fair, then no party worker is going to accept those results. In fact party workers are not going to accept the results of any election even if irregularities or malpractice take place in any one election. As a founding member of the party, I too, have to fulfill my duties. There is still time for the president, in the interests of the party, democracy and the country, to rectify and solve all problems in the party, honestly and with justice, and to get the party together and move ahead. In doing this everyone's future lies secure. If the president so wishes, I am prepared to meet him anywhere.

Krishna Prasad Bhattarai
Former President
Nepali Congress