When the Big Guns Fell Silent

Nepal’s latest parliamentary election has delivered one of the most dramatic political shakeups in the country’s democratic history. Leaders who had dominated national politics for decades — party presidents, former prime ministers, and seasoned parliamentarians — have been defeated across the country, swept aside by candidates from the fast-rising Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP).

For the first time in decades, the pillars of Nepal’s traditional political establishment — the Nepali Congress and the CPN (UML) — have been pushed to the margins of electoral politics.

Both parties had long parliamentary experience and were the first and second largest forces in the House of Representatives dissolved following the Gen Z protests in September last year. But this election told a dramatically different story.

Across constituency after constituency, senior leaders fell.

Congress Leadership Routed

The Nepali Congress, once the dominant political force in Nepal’s democratic movements, suffered one of its worst electoral setbacks.

Party president Gagan Thapa, who had changed his constituency to Sarahi-4, lost to RSP’s Amresh Kumar Singh. So did general secretaries Pradeep Paudel and Gururaj Ghimire. Joint general secretaries Farmullah Mansur, Udaya Shumsher Rana and Prakash Rasaili were also defeated.

The wave of losses went even deeper into the party’s senior ranks.

Veteran leaders such as Dr Shekhar Koirala, Bimalendra Nidhi, Bijay Kumar Gachhadar, NP Saud and Mahalaxmi Upadhyay — all influential figures within the party — failed to secure victory.

For a party that once commanded strong national support, the scale of the defeat signals a profound erosion of public confidence.

UML’s Heavyweights Fall

The CPN (UML), traditionally the Congress’s strongest rival, faced a similarly devastating outcome.

Party chair and former prime minister KP Sharma Oli lost his race. Several of the party’s top leaders followed.

Among those defeated were vice-chairs Gokarna Bista, Prithvi Subba Gurung and Bishnu Paudel; general secretary Shankar Pokharel; deputy general secretaries Raghubir Mahaseth and Lekh Raj Bhatt; and secretaries Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal, Sherdhan Rai, Mahesh Basnet and Dr Rajan Bhattarai.

Other senior leaders — including Ishwar Pokharel, Dev Raj Ghimire and Pradeep Gyawali — were also defeated.

For a party that had governed Nepal multiple times in recent years, the loss of so many senior leaders in a single election marks a historic collapse.

Mixed Fate for Another Communist Bloc

The Nepali Communist Party, formed by the merger of around a dozen leftist outfits months before the election, suffered a similar blow.

Party coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal managed to secure victory by competing from a reportedly easier constituency, Rukum (East). However, several other senior figures were defeated.

Among those losing their seats were co-coordinator Madhav Kumar Nepal and senior leaders Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Bhim Rawal, Mahindra Ray Yadav, Rajendra Pandey and Shakti Basnet.

Monarchists and Regional Leaders Also Defeated
The shockwaves extended beyond the mainstream left and democratic parties.

In the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, chair Rajendra Lingden, senior vice-chair Rabindra Mishra and senior leader Kamal Thapa were all defeated. Mishra resigned from his vice-chair position shortly after the loss.

The Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, which had maintained a parliamentary presence since 1991 and held Bhaktapur-1 as its stronghold, will not be represented in the new parliament.

Meanwhile, leaders of Madhes-based parties that emerged after the 2007 Madhes movement also suffered defeats.

Those losing their races include Upendra Yadav, chair of the Janata Samajbadi Party Nepal; Rajendra Mahato, chair of the Rastriya Mukti Party Nepal; CK Raut, chair of the Janamat Party; and Prabhu Sah, chair of the Aam Janata Party.

Rise of a New Political Force

While the traditional powerhouses struggled, the Rastriya Swatantra Party surged.

Nepal voted last Thursday to elect the 275-member House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the federal parliament. Of the seats, 165 are elected through the first-past-the-post system and 110 through proportional representation.

So far, results have been declared in 156 constituencies.

The RSP has won 120 seats and is leading in five.

The Nepali Congress has secured just 17 seats, while the CPN (UML) has won seven and leads in three.

The Nepali Communist Party has won three seats, Shram Sanskriti Party three, and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party one.

Independent candidate Mahabir Pun won the Myagdi constituency.

The RSP has also dominated the proportional representation vote. Of the 5.06 million PR votes counted so far, it has secured around 2.49 million — far ahead of any other party, none of which have yet crossed the one-million mark.

A Changing Political Landscape

With the RSP set to win the 138-seat majority threshold required to form a government, Nepal appears to be entering a new political era.

All eyes are on the PR vote count, as the party would secure a supermajority if it clinches 184 seats.

For decades, the country’s politics revolved around a handful of established leaders and parties. This election suggests that voters may be ready to move beyond that model.

The defeat of so many political heavyweights in a single election is not merely a shift in parliamentary numbers — it may signal a generational and structural transformation in Nepal’s democratic politics.

Whether this moment represents a temporary wave of public frustration or the beginning of a long-term political realignment will become clearer in the years ahead.

But one thing is already certain: the voices that once dominated Nepal’s political stage have grown unexpectedly quiet.

(With inputs from RSS)