Nepali Congress

Koirala traveled extensively to places such as Benaras, Calcutta, Darjeeling, Assam, Bhaksu and Dehradhun and established contact with the Nepalese there. He met with Ganesh Man Singh during the same period. Nepalese representatives from different areas of Nepal and India organized one session in Calcutta. Koirala, Dilli Raman Regmi Dharma Narayan Pradhan and Dhan Man Singh Pariyar were present. In the same session, dropping Akhil Bharatiya from its name, the organization was named Nepali National Congress. Tanka Prasad Acharya, who was facing a life-sentence in Kathmandu, was made its chairman.

The flag was square-shaped with white, blue and red colors in succession, with the moon and the sun in its center.

The major four proposals passed by the session were:

• Assist the Indians in their Independence movement.
• Support Vietnam struggling for freedom against French colonization.
• Ask for the immediate release of imprisoned members of the Praja Parishad.
• Initiate a non-violence movement in Nepal for the establishment of an accountable ruling system.[6]

The organization's modus operandi was chosen. The organization attached itself to the civil conscience process in Nepal by establishing Tanka Prasad Acharya as its chairman.[6]

The Nepali Congress Party was formed by the merger of Nepali National Congress and Nepal Democratic Congress. The Nepali National Congress was founded by Matrika Prasad Koirala in Calcutta, India on 25 January 1946. The Nepal Democratic Congress was founded by Subarna Shumsher Rana in Calcutta on 4 August 1948. The two parties merged on 10 April 1950 to form the Nepali Congress and Koirala became its first president.[7] The party called for an armed revolution against the Rana regime.

During the Bairgania Conference in Bairgania, Bihar, on 27 September 1950 the Nepali Congress announced an armed revolution against the Rana regime. The president of the party also announced the liquidation of operations in India and that the party would operate only inside Nepal.[8]

After King Tribhuvan took refuge inside the Indian Embassy on 6 November 1950. The Congress Liberation Army decided to take this opportunity to launch attacks against the regime before the King "left Nepalese soil". Matrika and Bisheshwor Prasad Koirala and Subarna Shamsher Rana flew to Purnia, Bihar. They called the commanders posted at different locations inside Nepal to prepare for armed strikes near the Nepal-India border.[8]

On 11 November 1950, at midnight Birgunj was attacked, and by 12 November it fell to the Nepali Congress and the first "People's Government" was declared.[8] The liberation army was able to control most of the eastern hills of Nepal and the town of Tansen in Palpa. After pressure by the Indian government and the mass movement by the Nepali Congress and other political parties, the Rana government finally submitted to their demands and King Tribhuvan returned to the throne, replacing King Gyanendra, who had been crowned king after King Tribhuvan left for India.

Nepali Congress leaders meeting King Tribhuvan

After the fall of the Rana government, the Nepali Congress led three of the five governments formed before the elections. Matrika Prasad Koirala, the first commoner to become Prime Minister, led the government from 1951-1952 and 1953-1955 and Subarna Shamsher Rana led the government from 1958-1959. The much delayed elections were finally held in February 1959 and Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala became the first democratically elected Prime Minister of Nepal after the Nepali Congress won 74 of 109 Parliament seats.[9]

Following a royal coup by King Mahendra in 1960, many leaders of the party, including Koirala, Rana and General Secretary Hora Prasad Joshi, were imprisoned or exiled; others took political refuge in India.

Although political parties were prohibited from 1960 to 1989 and remained outlawed during the panchayat system under the aegis of the Associations and Organizations (Control) Act of 1963, the Nepali Congress persisted. The party placed great emphasis on eliminating the feudal economy and building a basis for socioeconomic development. It proposed nationalizing basic industries and instituting progressive taxes on land, urban housing, salaries, profits and foreign investments. While in exile, the Nepali Congress served as the nucleus around which other opposition groups clustered and instigated popular uprisings in the Hill and Terai regions. During this time, the Nepali Congress refused the overtures of a radical faction of the Communist Party of Nepal for a tactical alliance.

Although the Nepali Congress demonstrated endurance, defection, factionalism and external pressures weakened it over time. Nevertheless, it continued to be the only organized party to press for democratization. In the 1980 referendum, it supported the multiparty system in opposition to the panchayat system. In 1981, the party boycotted the Rashtriya Panchayat elections and rejected the new government. The death in 1982 of Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala further weakened the party.

Although the party boycotted the 1986 elections to the Rastriya Panchayat, its members were allowed to run in the 1987 local elections. In defiance of the demonstration ban, the Nepali Congress organized mass rallies with the communist factions in January 1990 that ultimately triggered the pro-democracy movement.

After the Jana Andolan I, party president Krishna Prasad Bhattarai was invited to form an interim coalition government. In the elections of 1991, the Nepali Congress won 110 of 205 seats but Bhattarai lost his seat and yielded the position of prime minister to Girija Prasad Koirala who held his seat until 1994.[10]

During the 1994 elections, the Nepali Congress lost its majority to Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist). The CPN (UML) lacked a majority and formed a minority government. After 46 parliamentarians from the CPN (UML) quit to form the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist–Leninist), the Nepali Congress formed their own government with the Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Nepal Sadbhawana Party. After CPN (UML) offered Lokendra Bahadur Chand the position of prime minister, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party led a government with the CPN (UML). Internal problems within the Rastriya Prajatantra Party caused one faction led by Surya Bahadur Thapa to lead a government with Nepali Congress and Nepal Sadbhawana Party.[9][10]

Girija Prasad Koirala again became the Prime Minister in April 1998, leading a Congress minority government after Rastriya Prajatantra and Nepal Sadbhawana quit the government. Eventually, they got support from the CPN (ML) and after their withdrawal the CPN (UML) and Nepal Sadbhawana.[9][10]

Krishna Prasad Bhattarai: former party president and Prime Minister of Nepal

During the 1999 elections, Girija Prasad Koirala stepped aside in favour of Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, who returned as Prime Minister when the Nepali Congress won 111 out of 205 House seats. Bhattarai resigned as prime minister on 16 March 2000 after conflicts between himself and supporters of Girija Prasad Koirala. In the party's first open leadership election, the parliamentarians selected Girija Prasad Koirala as their leader by 69-43 votes over Sher Bahadur Deuba. Accordingly, King Birendra designated Girija Prasad Koirala as prime minister on 20 March.[9][10]

On 8 August 2000, Koirala dismissed the Minister of Water Resources, Khum Bahadur Khadka, for calling for Koirala's resignation. Although Koirala beat back another challenge by Deuba's supporters at a party convention in January 2001, he resigned as Prime Minister on 19 July. Deuba then defeated Secretary General Sushil Koirala, 72–40, for the party leadership and was designated prime minister by the king.[9][10]

In May 2002, the party's disciplinary committee expelled Deuba for failing to consult the party before seeking a parliamentary extension of the country's state of emergency. Deuba's supporters then expelled Koirala at a general convention in June. Deuba registered his faction as the Nepali Congress (Democratic),[11] following a decision by the Election Commission that the Koirala faction held ownership of the name Nepali Congress, taking 40 of the party's lower house representatives with him.[10]

In the months following the King's October 2002 decisions to dissolve the House of Representatives and replace Prime Minister Deuba with Rastriya Prajatantra's Lokendra Bahadur Chand, the party joined the CPN (UML) and other, smaller parties in challenging the constitutionality of the moves. The party played a significant role in the formation of the Seven Party Alliance (SPA), which launched a series of street protests against the King's regression. The Seven Party Alliance had earlier avoided the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (CPN-M and their violent methods, signed a 12-point understanding in Delhi in November 2005. The agreement contained three key commitments: the SPA endorsed CPN-M's fundamental demand for elections to a Constituent Assembly; the Maoists reciprocated with an assurance that they accepted a multi-party political system (SPA's prime concern); the SPA and the Maoists agreed to launch a peaceful mass movement against the monarchy.[9]

On 26 April 2006, the king reinstated the dissolved parliament and formed a small government under the premiership of Girija Prasad Koirala, the president of the Nepali Congress. In November 2006, the government and the CPN-M signed a Comprehensive Peace Accord in India and the Nepalese Civil War formally ended.[10]

On 24 September 2007, the Nepali Congress (Democratic) and Nepali Congress unified as a single party with the Constituent Assembly elections looming. Girija Prasad Koirala remained president of the newly unified party. The party placed second—with 110 out of 575 elected seats—in the April 2008 Constituent Assembly election, winning only half as many seats as CPN-M.[10]

The party joined the coalition government headed by Madhav Kumar Nepal in May 2009. Girija Prasad Koirala angered some in the party by nominating his daughter Sujata Koirala to be Foreign Minister. In June, in a contested election for leader of the party's parliamentary group, Ram Chandra Poudel defeated Deuba.[10] The 12th General Convention of the party was held in Kathmandu from 17–21 September 2010. The convention elected Sushil Koirala as the party president.[12]

After the Constituent Assembly of Nepal was dissolved by Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai after failure to draft a new constitution before the deadline.[13] In the resulting elections, the party emerged as the largest party winning 196 of the 575 elected seats.[14] Along with CPN (UML), under the leadership of Sushil Koirala, they formed a new coalition government.[15] The country's new constitution was promulgated under his leadership on 20 September 2015.[16]

A map showing the vote-share won by Nepali Congress in the 2017 Nepalese provincial elections.

Sushil Koirala resigned as prime minister on 10 October 2015 after losing support from CPN (UML).[17] Nepali Congress joined the government again on August 2016, after backing Pushpa Kamal Dahal to become prime minister.[18] According to their agreement, Dahal resigned on 24 May 2017[19] paving the way for Deuba to become prime minister for a fourth time on 6 June 2017.[19]

On 22 April 2017, the Akhanda Nepal Party joined the Nepali Congress ahead of the 2017 Nepalese local elections.[20][21] Nepali Congress won 11,456 seats including 266 mayoral or chairman positions. The party also won mayor posts in Lalitpur and Biratnagar.[22][23] Ahead of the 2017 legislative and provincial elections, Nepal Loktantrik Forum led by former Nepali Congress leader, Bijay Kumar Gachhadar merged into the party.[24] The party won 63 seats to the House of Representatives becoming the second largest party.[25] The party could win only 23 seats under first past the post and many influential leaders including Ram Chandra Paudel, Ram Sharan Mahat, Bimalendra Nidhi, Krishna Prasad Sitaula and Arjun Narsingh KC lost in their constituencies.[26][27] The party won 113 seats in provincial assemblies and became the largest opposition in six out of seven provinces. The party won 13 seats in the 2018 National Assembly election.[28] After the National Assembly elections, Deuba resigned as prime minister on 15 February 2018, paving the way for a new government under CPN (UML).[29] The party's under performance in the elections caused many elements inside the party to call for Deuba's resignation.[30] Prakash Man Singh stood against Deuba for the election of the parliamentary party leader, but Deuba won the vote 44-19.[31][32][33]

As of the 2017 provincial elections, Nepali Congress is in the opposition in all the provinces.

• Matrika Prasad Koirala, 1950-1952.
• Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala, 1952-1956, 1957-1982.
• Subarna Shamsher Rana, 1956-1957.
• Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, 1982-1996.
• Girija Prasad Koirala, 1996-2010.
• Sushil Koirala, 2010-2016.
• Sher Bahadur Deuba, 2016–present.