These are the decisions made in UML’s late-night meeting

KATHMANDU: The secretariat of CPN-UML has taken a series of significant structural decisions in a late-night meeting on Thursday, agreeing to reduce the number of office bearers from 19 to 15 and abolish both the 70-year age limit and two-term cap for party leadership positions.

The meeting, which saw intensive internal discussions, also decided to eliminate the “secretariat” as a separate entity in the party hierarchy.

Going forward, only three central bodies will remain active: the Standing Committee, the Politburo, and the Central Committee, according to UML Vice-Chair Guru Baral.

These changes are to be proposed in the upcoming statute convention and implemented from the next general convention.

The restructured office-bearer group will include 15 members, though an exact breakdown of posts is yet to be finalized.

A preliminary internal understanding suggests it could consist of one chairperson, one general secretary, one deputy general secretary, five vice-chairpersons, and seven secretaries.

The meeting also discussed resizing the Central Committee. Vice-Chair and statute revision committee head Bishnu Paudel had proposed a 199-member committee and 11 office bearers, but after internal pushback, the central committee was expanded to 251 members and the office-bearer count raised to 15.

One-third of central committee members will also be part of the politburo, setting its size at 83 members—a reduction from the current 99.

Deputy General Secretary and spokesperson Pradeep Gyawali said the newly designated 15 office bearers will themselves function as the Standing Committee. He added that all statute-related decisions were passed unanimously, despite differing opinions during initial discussions.

The meeting also decided that central committee members will automatically qualify as delegates to the upcoming national congress. However, in the case of the statute convention, only previously elected representatives will have voting rights, while new members will participate in an organizing role.

The decisions taken by the secretariat will be tabled for endorsement at Friday’s 1 PM politburo meeting and will be formally presented to the central committee meeting scheduled for July 21.