Kathmandu. Former President Bidya Devi Bhandari will not be allowed to be a representative in the CPN (UML) Legislative Convention. The UML Secretariat meeting held on Thursday passed a proposal that only representatives of the 10th National Convention will be the representatives of the Legislative Convention, paving the way for Bhandari.

After the meeting, UML Deputy General Secretary Pradeep Gyawali said, “Friends who were not in the 10th National Convention and later joined the Central Committee or Central Body will go as organizers, but they will not be representatives of the Legislative Convention. The constitution states that only those who were representatives of the 10th National Convention will be the representatives of the Legislative Convention.”

The Secretariat meeting took this decision to prevent former President Bhandari, who returned to the UML, from participating in the Legislative Convention. Bhandari, who was the President of the party during the 10th General Convention, had recently announced her return to the UML by renewing her party membership.

The secretariat meeting, which lasted for more than 10 hours on Thursday, has also decided to reduce the number of 19 member office bearers in the UML. The decision to remove this provision was made during the discussion on the proposal to amend the statute in the secretariat meeting. Similarly, the UML will also remove the 70-year age limit and two-term provision previously provided in the statute.

The meeting has decided that the Central Committee will have 251 members, one-third of whom will be Politburo members. Leader Gyawali has clarified that no new representatives will be allowed in the statutory general convention and that new invitees will participate as organizers.

The amendment proposal passed by the secretariat meeting will be submitted to the party’s Politburo and Central Committee. After that, this decision will be implemented after it is approved by the statutory general convention to be held in Bhadra.