CPN UML faces leadership crisis following electoral defeat

Internal conflict is intensifying within the CPN UML party in Nepal following its recent electoral defeat. General Secretary Shankar Pokhrel, acting as member-secretary of a review task force, submitted a report proposing party reorganization and suggesting that the top leadership must take responsibility for the loss.

According to recommendations from various provincial committees and affiliated bodies, there is significant pressure on Chairman KP Sharma Oli to step down or transition into a guardian role to allow for a generational leadership change. Notably, even committees in Oli’s home province of Koshi have called for leadership to accept moral responsibility for the defeat.

In response, Vice Chairman Ram Bahadur Thapa “Badal” has rejected Pokhrel’s findings. Badal has prepared a 39-page counter-report titled “CPN UML’s Common Commitment for Party Consolidation, Transformation and Rejuvenation,” which defends Oli. The counter-report attributes the electoral defeat to external factors, including a “colour revolution” and parliamentary dissolution, rather than leadership failure. Badal characterized Pokhrel’s proposal as a “conspiracy to remove the chairman.”