1959 Nepalese general election

Last updated
1959 Nepalese general election
Flag of Nepal.svg
18 February–3 April 1959 [1] 1971  →
All 109 seats in the House of Representatives
55 seats needed for a majority
Registered4,246,368 [2]
Turnout1,791,381
 First partySecond party
  BP Koirala.jpg Rastriya Janamukti Election Symbol.png
Leader B. P. Koirala Randhir Subba
Party Nepali Congress Gorkha Parishad
Leader's seatNo. 32 (Won) [3] No. 26 (Lost) [4]
Seats won7419
Popular vote666,898305,118
Percentage37.2%17.1%
Prime Minister before election

Subarna Shamsher Rana
Nepali Congress

Elected Prime Minister

B. P. Koirala
Nepali Congress

General elections were held in Nepal from 18 February to 3 April 1959 to elect the 109 members of the first House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament of Nepal. [1] [5] They were held under the provisions of the 1959 constitution, which had been adopted on 12 February. [6] More than 4.25 million people out of an overall population of about 8.55 million (1954) were eligible to vote. [7] Voter turnout was 42.18%. [8] [2]

Contents

The result was a victory for the Nepali Congress, winning 74 of the 109 seats with 38% of the vote. [9] B. P. Koirala became the first democratically elected and 22nd Prime Minister of Nepal. [10]

Campaign

786 candidates competed for 109 seats in the House of Representatives; 268 ran as independents, with the others representing nine parties. The Nepali Congress contested 108 constituencies, the Gorkha Parishad contested in 86 seats and the Communist Party of Nepal contested 47 seat.

The CIA covertly assisted Koirala and the Nepali Congress in winning the election. [11]

Results

Only four parties secured the designation of 'National party' in accordance with the Election Act of Nepal 1959. The party presidents of eight of the nine parties failed to win a seat, with Nepali Congress Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala the only party president to be elected, winning in constituency No. 32 (Morang South Biratnagar West). [4] Nepali Congress leader Subarna Shamsher Rana contested three constituencies (No. 52 (Bara Parsa, Central North), constituency No. 53 (Bara, East Parsa) and constituency No. 91 (Gulmi, South-West)) and won them all. Another Nepal Congress leader Surya Prasad Upadhyaya contested two constituencies (constituency No. 5 (Kathmandu Valley) and constituency No. 14 (Ramechhap, South)) but was defeated in both.

Gorkha Parishad president Randhir Subba was defeated in constituency No. 26 Dhankuta. Tarai Congress president Vedananda Jha lost in constituency No. 39 Siraha. Communist Party of Nepal General Secretary Keshar Jung Rayamajhi was defeated in Palpa Constituency No. 93. Democratic General Assembly president Ranganath Sharma was also defeated in Kathmandu Constituency No. 5. Dilliraman Regmi of the Nepali Rastriya Congress and Bhadrakali Mishra of Nepal Praja Parishad (Mishra) were also defeated. Tanka Prasad Acharya was defeated in from Kathmandu Constituency No. 5. [4] [12]

Pratinidhi Sabha, Nepal, 1959.svg
PartyVotes%Seats
Nepali Congress 666,89837.2374
Nepal Rashtrabadi Gorkha Parishad 305,11817.0319
Samyukta Prajatantra Party 177,4089.905
Communist Party of Nepal 129,1427.214
Prajatantrik Mahasabha59,8963.340
Nepal Praja Parishad (Mishra) 59,8203.341
Nepal Praja Parishad (Acharya) 53,0382.962
Tarai Congress36,1072.020
Nepali Rastriya Congress12,7070.710
Independents291,24716.264
Total1,791,381100.00109
Registered voters/turnout4,246,468–
Source: Nohlen et al

Aftermath

The speaker of the first House of Representatives was Krishna Prasad Bhattarai from Nepali Congress. [13] The term of the parliament started from 27 May 1959 and it was dissolved on 15 December 1960.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Nepal</span>

The history of Nepal is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions, comprising the areas of South Asia and East Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nepali Congress</span> Social democratic political party in Nepal

The Nepali Congress is a social democratic political party in Nepal and the largest party in the country. The party has 840,106 members as of the party's 14th general convention in December 2021 making them the largest party by membership in Nepal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist)</span> Political party in Nepal

The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) (Nepali: नेपाल कम्युनिष्ट पार्टी (एकीकृत मार्क्सवादी-लेनिनवादी); abbr. CPN (UML)) is a communist political party in Nepal. The party emerged as a major party in Nepal after the end of the Panchayat era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sher Bahadur Deuba</span> Nepali politician (born 1946)

Sher Bahadur Deuba is a Nepali politician and former prime minister of Nepal. He has also been serving as the president of the Nepali Congress since 2016. Deuba has served five terms as the prime minister and is the Member of Parliament for the parliamentary constituency of Dadeldhura 1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Girija Prasad Koirala</span> Nepalese politician (1924–2010)

Nepal Ratna Girija Prasad Koirala, affectionately known as Girija Babu, was a Nepalese politician. He headed the Nepali Congress and served as the Prime Minister of Nepal on four occasions, including from 1991 to 1994, 1998 to 1999, 2000 to 2001, and from 2006 to 2008. He was the Acting Head of State of Nepal between January 2007 and July 2008 as the country transitioned from a monarchy to a republic.

Nepal Rashtrabadi Gorkha Parishad, a pro-monarchy political party in Nepal. The party was founded in 1951 by members of the erstwhile Rana dynasty. The party was led by Bharat Shamsher JBR and MG Mrigendra Shamsher JBR.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krishna Prasad Bhattarai</span> Nepalese politician

Krishna Prasad Bhattarai also known as Kishunji was a Nepalese political leader. He was one of the main leaders involved in transitioning Nepal from an absolute monarchy to a democratic multi-party system.

General elections were held in Nepal on 15 November 1994 to elect the Nepal House of Representatives. The election took place after the previous Nepali Congress government collapsed and King Birenda called new elections. The results saw the Communist Party of Nepal win the most seats in the House of Representatives and Man Mohan Adhikari became Prime Minister at the head of a minority government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sushil Koirala</span> Former prime minister of Nepal (1939–2016)

Sushil Prasad Koirala was a Nepalese politician and the Prime Minister of Nepal from 11 February 2014 to 10 October 2015. He was also President of the Nepali Congress from 2010 to 2016, having earlier served under various capacities in the party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dhyan Govinda Ranjit</span>

Dhyan Govinda Ranjit a.k.a. Dhyan Govinda Ranjitkar is a Nepalese politician and a leader of Nepali Congress. He is a member of Nepalese constituent assembly/Nepalese Parliament. Ranjit has twice been elected to the Nepalese Constituent Assembly from Kathmandu constituency on two consecutive elections. He is an elected member of Nepali Congress parliamentary party working committee representing Province-3. He was a representative of Nepali Congress in work editing committee. He is the Past President of Kathmandu District Committee of Nepali Congress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prakash Man Singh</span> Nepali politician

Prakash Man Singh is a Nepalese politician and a leader of the Nepali Congress. He is the son of political stalwart Ganesh Man Singh. He has also served as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Local Development and Federalism in Sushil Koirala's Cabinet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ram Chandra Poudel</span> President of Nepal since 2023

Ram Chandra Paudel is a Nepalese politician serving as the third President of Nepal since March 2023. A former senior leader of the Nepali Congress, Paudel was elected president on 9 March 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1981 Nepalese general election</span>

General elections were held in Nepal on 9 May 1981 to elect members of the Rastriya Panchayat. 80% of the seats were elected through adult universal suffrage; this was the first election through universal suffrage held in Nepal in 22 years. However, political parties were banned at the time, and the main underground opposition forces called for a boycott of the election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanka Prasad Acharya</span> Prime minister of Nepal (1956 -1957)

Tanka Prasad Acharya was a Nepali politician who served as the 19th Prime Minister of Nepal from 1956 to 1957. He was one of the founders and the leader of the Nepal Praja Parishad, the first political party in Nepal with the goal of removing the Rana Dynasty's dictatorship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1973 Nepal plane hijack</span> Plane hijacking in Nepal

The 1973 Nepal plane hijack was the first plane hijacking in the history of Nepal. Girija Prasad Koirala planned the hijack to steal money that the Nepal Rastra Bank was having transported from Biratnagar to Kathmandu.

Tarini Prasad Koirala was a Nepalese politician, journalist, writer belonging to the Nepali Congress Party and the Koirala family.

Bhadrakali Mishra was a Nepali politician. In his political career lasting more than 50 years, several of which were in exile, he held numerous ministerial portfolios and was also the Chairman of King Birendra's Raj Parishad Standing Committee after the establishment of multi-party democracy in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Nepalese general election</span> Election

General elections were held in Nepal in two phases on 26 November and 7 December 2017 to elect the 275 members of the fifth House of Representatives, the lower house of the Federal Parliament of Nepal. The election was held alongside the first provincial elections for the seven provincial assemblies. A political deadlock between the governing Nepali Congress and the winning left-wing coalition over the system used to elect the upper house led to delay in forming the new government. Following the announcement of final result by the Election Commission, K.P. Oli of Communist Party of Nepal was sworn in as Prime Minister on 15 February 2018 by the President according to Article 76 (2) of the constitution. He passed a Motion of Confidence on 11 March 2018 with 208 votes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nepali National Congress</span> Political party in Nepal

Nepali National Congress was a political party in Nepal. It was formed by B. P. Koirala, Matrika Prasad Koirala, Ganesh Man Singh, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Mahendra Narayan Nidhi and others.

References

  1. 1 2 Joshi, Bhuwan Lal; Rose, Leo E. (1966). Democratic Innovations in Nepal: A Case Study of Political Acculturation. University of California Press. p. 295.
  2. 1 2 Devkota, Grishma Bahadur (1976). Nepalko Rajnitik Darpan II (in Nepali). Bhattarai Bandhu Prakashan. p. 111.
  3. ↑ "केवल एक पार्टी प्रमुखले जितेका थिए पहिलो आमनिर्वाचन" [Only one party leader won the first general election]. देशसञ्चार (in Nepali). 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  4. 1 2 3 Kafle, Chandra. "४५ दिन लगाएर गरिएको २०१५ सालको चुनाव" [The election of 2015 BS was conducted in 45 days]. Setopati (in Nepali). Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  5. ↑ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p629 ISBN   0-19-924958-X
  6. ↑ Nohlen et al., p624
  7. ↑ Rama Devi Pant (1959-04-04). "First general election of Nepal 1959" (PDF). The economic weekly. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  8. ↑ Parajulee, Ramjee P. (2000). The democratic transition in Nepal. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 46. ISBN   0-8476-9577-8. OCLC   41951317.
  9. ↑ Nohlen et al., p654
  10. ↑ "Timeline" (PDF). constitutionnet.org. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  11. ↑ Levin, Dov H. (2016-09-19). "Partisan electoral interventions by the great powers: Introducing the PEIG Dataset". Conflict Management and Peace Science. 36 (1): 88–106. doi:10.1177/0738894216661190. ISSN   0738-8942. S2CID   157114479.
  12. ↑ Nepal, Jagat. Pāhilo Sāmsād : BP-Mahendra Takraaw. Kaṭhamandu: Sangrila Books. ISBN   978-9937-9053-6-7. OCLC   944022824.
  13. ↑ "'चक्रव्यूह'मा सभामुख, किन हुन्छ काण्डैकाण्ड ?". Janata Samachar (in Nepali). Retrieved 2020-06-18.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.