CPN-UML Chairperson KP Sharma Oli
KATHMANDU: CPN-UML Chairperson KP Sharma Oli is preparing to remove the 70-year age limit provision from the party statute. While Oli has long enforced age restrictions in the party’s youth wings, preventing younger leaders from advancing, he is now pushing to amend the party charter to keep the door open for himself.
Currently, the UML’s statute bars leaders aged 70 and above from active politics. However, Oli has already passed proposals in the party’s Secretariat, Politburo and Central Committee meetings to scrap this provision. The changes are set to be endorsed at the party’s Statute Convention scheduled in Kathmandu for September 5–7.
The UML has set age limits in its two main sister organizations: 32 years in the All Nepal National Free Students’ Union (ANNFSU) and 40 years in the National Youth Association. Dozens of aspiring leaders in these organizations have been disqualified due to these rules, which were enforced under party pressure.
Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal, head of the UML’s Mass Organization Department, said leadership should not be restricted by age if an individual is capable. “The Central Committee has already removed both the 70-year age limit and the two-term limit for leadership. The Statute Convention will endorse these changes,” Dhakal said.
Ironically, Dhakal was the one who pushed for age limits in the sister organizations.
Some UML leaders argue that the provision was initially suspended to accommodate newcomers in the party like Mukunda Neupane, who defected from the CPN (Unified Socialist), but in reality, it was designed to benefit Oli.
Vice-chairpersons Yubaraj Gyawali and Surendra Pandey, among others, had opposed lifting the age cap in recent Central Committee meetings. However, their voices went unheard.
Despite growing dissent, Oli’s loyalists are confident that the upcoming Statute Convention will formally abolish the age limit. Party insiders say preparations are already underway to ensure Oli is re-elected as chairperson at the UML’s 11th General Convention.
