KATHMANDU: All top leaders of the Nepali Congress are trailing in the ongoing vote counting for the federal parliament elections, raising serious questions about the party’s electoral performance. Party President Gagan Thapa, along with other senior office-bearers, is reportedly falling behind in multiple constituencies across the country.
Preliminary results show that in Sarlahi-4, President Thapa is trailing RSP candidate Amaresh Kumar Singh by over 6,000 votes, making his chances of winning appear slim. Two vice presidents, Bishwa Prakash Sharma and Pushpa Bhusal, did not contest the elections.
Among the general secretaries, Pradeep Paudel has lost in Kathmandu-5 to RSP’s Sasmit Pokharel, while Gururaj Ghimire suffered a heavy defeat in Morang-4 against RSP’s Santosh Rajbanshi. Co-general secretary Farmullah Mansur lost in Bara-3 to RSP’s Arvind Sah, and Prakash Rasaili was defeated by CPN-UML’s Ain Mahara in Bajhang.
Other co-general secretaries, including Uday Shamsher Rana in Lalitpur, Yogendra Chaudhary in Dang-1, and Karn Bahadur Budha in Dolpa, are also trailing significantly, with the latter five times behind CPN candidate Dhan Bahadur Budha. Three other co-general secretaries—Dila Sangraila, Muktakumari Yadav, and Bahadur Singh Lama—did not contest.
The defeat of office-bearers elected at the party’s special general convention, held without the presence of a major faction led by former president Sher Bahadur Deuba, has raised serious ethical and political questions. Party president Gagan Thapa, who has been pushing for “Congress 2.0,” now faces mounting pressure as his own electoral prospects decline.
While former President Deuba’s role is also cited in the party’s failures, the immediate burden of accountability is falling on Thapa as the party struggles to compete with the RSP and CPN-UML.
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