Kathmandu: Nepal may no longer see former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba contest parliamentary elections again as his secretariat announced Tuesday that he will not run in the upcoming House of Representatives election scheduled for March 5.
Bhanu Deuba, Deuba’s chief Personal Secretary, wrote on social media: “President of the Nepali Congress and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will not contest the upcoming House of Representatives elections.”
The announcement marks the end of a 34-year political journey that began when Deuba was first elected from Dadeldhura district in far-western Nepal in the 1991 parliamentary elections.
A series of setbacks over the past few months ultimately forced Deuba to abandon his ambition of becoming Prime Minister once again, even though he was already barred by party statute from seeking another term as party President.
Had the agreement reached between the Nepali Congress (NC) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), or CPN (UML), for the formation of the K P Sharma Oli-led government in 2024 been implemented, Deuba would have been eyeing a chance to become Prime Minister for the sixth time.
Under the agreement, Oli and Deuba were to serve as Prime Minister on a rotational basis until the next parliamentary elections, scheduled for 2027 in normal circumstances. However, the Gen-Z revolt in September last year brought down the Oli-led government, dealing a major blow to Deuba’s ambition of returning to the premiership.
Another setback for the 79-year-old leader came in early January when the Nepali Congress elected new leadership under Gagan Thapa through a Special General Convention (SGM), held against Deuba’s wishes.
The Election Commission’s recognition of the Thapa-led party leadership pushed Deuba and his faction into a defensive position, with the Supreme Court emerging as their only remaining hope for the restoration of Deuba’s leadership. As several Deuba loyalists abandoned him and joined Thapa’s camp, Deuba’s secretariat announced that he would no longer contest elections.
The Thapa-led Central Working Committee has selected Deuba loyalist Nain Singh Mahar from the constituency that Deuba had represented for the past 34 years, signaling Thapa’s willingness to accommodate Deuba supporters while distributing candidacy tickets.
Deuba, who had sought to prolong his influence within the party, now appears to have reached the end of his political journey. His decision to step aside from the election may also have helped avert a split within the Nepali Congress.
Deuba had been continuously elected as a member of the House of Representatives (including the Constituent Assembly) since the 1991 parliamentary elections following the restoration of democracy in 1990. He served as Prime Minister five times, first in 1995, and subsequently in 2001, 2004, 2017, and 2021.
Having been elected seven consecutive times and having served five terms as Prime Minister, Deuba has stepped back at a time when the new establishment faction led by Thapa was unwilling to grant him a ticket, even as many of his loyalists were accommodated in what appeared to be a deliberate effort to keep the party intact.
As he has decided not to contest the election at all, Deuba’s path to returning to power through electoral victories has come to a definitive halt.
Deuba’s forced exit from national politics marks the end of the career of a leader who, alongside CPN (UML) Chairperson K P Sharma Oli and Nepali Communist Party Coordinator Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, has been a dominant figure in Nepal’s political landscape for several decades.
Amid mounting pressure from the Gen-Z movement for top leaders of the three major political parties to step aside, Deuba failed to retain his relevance within his own party in the face of an internal revolt led by Thapa.
While Oli has maintained a firm grip on his party after being re-elected as chairperson at a recent general convention, Prachanda has sought to consolidate his position by forging alliances with fringe leftist forces. His party was recently renamed following the merger of the CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN (Unified Socialist), and more than a dozen smaller leftist parties.
The question now is whether voters are willing to accept the continued dominance of leaders who have shaped national politics for decades in the wake of the Gen-Z movement.
IANS
