CK Raut, chair of the Janamat Party, has announced his retirement from parliamentary politics.

Raut’s announcement came after his party’s poor performance in the recently concluded parliamentary elections. The Janamat Party failed to gain the status of a national party after it did not secure at least one seat under the first-past-the-post system and fell short of the three percent vote threshold under the proportional representation category.

He himself lost the elections in Saptari-2. In the 2022 general elections, Raut won the same constituency with a wide margin, defeating a heavyweight Upendra Yadav of the Janata Samajbadi Party.

In an interview with the Prime TV programme “Janata Janna Chahanchhan”, Raut confirmed his decision to quit parliamentary politics.

He said he had already planned to step away from parliamentary politics regardless of the election results.

“My retirement does not mean I will leave the party abandoned. The party will continue preparations for upcoming elections, but I will not contest parliamentary polls,” he said.

Stating that he does not see much value in his presence in Parliament, he said he will not take part in parliamentary politics or contest any future elections.

He said he had no desire to run in the March 5 polls. According to him, he had asked party leaders not to include him on the proportional representation list or as a direct candidate.

“My colleagues were preparing the proportional list in Bhaktapur. I told them not to make me a candidate under the proportional system or direct elections,” he said. “They convinced me that if I did not contest, the party’s morale would go down, and what would happen if we failed to win even a single seat. That is how I ended up contesting despite not wanting to.”

Raut said he is not unhappy with the current election results. He said he had already anticipated his defeat to a large extent.

“I had also been thinking of not contesting this election. I knew to a large extent that I might lose,” he said. “If I had not contested, I would have been blamed for the defeat of Madhes-based parties. Now I feel it was right that I contested.”

The March 5 polls pushed several established traditional and newly emerged parties to the margins, including the Janamat Party. The party was formed in 2019 under the leadership of Raut after he joined mainstream politics, dropping his earlier demand for a separate Madhesh province.

Raut’s party had emerged as an alternative force that was seen as a threat to the established traditional parties, especially the Madhesh-based parties. The party built its support by being vocal against corruption and poor governance, and by raising the issues facing the Madhesi people.

His party also managed to garner public support by pointing out what it called the failure of established parties for not addressing the demands of women, Madhesi, Dalits, indigenous nationalities and the other marginalised people.

In the 2022 parliamentary and local elections, the Janamat Party had emerged as a promising party. It won six seats in the House of Representatives and several positions in local governments.