Older members claiming Congress leadership while young members dominate activity

KATHMANDU: Despite the claim of those aged more than 70 on the leadership of the country’s oldest democratic party, the Nepali Congress, 38 per cent of its active members are young.

Of the active members so far, 37.8 per cent are under 40 years of age.

As per the details presented by the Congress’ active membership scrutiny committee at the office-bearers’ meeting, the details of about 40 per cent of members have been updated. The details of 392,794 active members have been updated at the Congress Central Office till 2:30 PM on Monday.

Out of which, the number of members under 40 years of age is 148,640. The number of Nepali Congress cadres above 40 years of age and under 60 years of age is 48 per cent. According to the active membership scrutiny committee, there are 184,902 members below the age of 60 so far. The Congress office estimates that the number of active members will reach one million.

Congress youth leader Pradip Poudel, who is also a member of the membership inquiry committee, says that the attraction of youths to the party should be further enhanced. Poudel said that the number of youths will increase till the full details of the active members are obtained.

“We now have 392,000 updated subscriptions. This number will reach one million. The number of young members should be more than 50 per cent,” Poudel told Nepal Press. Poudel said that this party would be the party of the youth and could attract voters if it targeted the youth that is not politically affiliated.

The number of Congress members over the age of 60 is 15 per cent. Of the active members who have been updated so far, 59,252 are over 60 years of age. It is mentioned in the general convention agenda that the details of active membership should be updated by 25th March. Top leaders have agreed to continue the work of active membership for a few more days.

According to Ramesh Lekhak, Coordinator of the membership investigation committee, all the district and regional committees of the House of Representatives are updating the membership details in the software developed by the Central Office of the Nepali Congress. “So far, 136 subdomains are active in our software, out of which 207 subscribers have to fill in the subscription details. I believe that others will fill it soon,” said the author.

According to Lekhak, the work of sending active membership centres from 68 districts has started. It has been stated that the investigation committee will complete the list after resolving disputes when the membership details from all the districts are updated in the software.