The Nepali Congress (NC) is preparing to present the agenda for its 15th general convention at the ongoing central committee meeting, where leaders are discussing the party’s recent electoral defeat and leadership challenges.

The first meeting of the party's central working committee after the elections began Friday and focussed on the resignation of the party President Gagan Thapa, the reasons behind the party's crushing electoral defeat, and preparations for the 15th general convention, among other things. Thapa did not attend Friday's meeting.

According to the Congress General Secretary, Guru Raj Ghimire, the agenda for the general convention will be finalised in the next meeting, on Saturday. Speaking to journalists after Friday’s meeting in Sanepa, Lalitpur, Ghimire confirmed that discussions will also include party president Gagan Thapa’s resignation earlier this week. Thapa resigned, taking moral responsibility for the party’s defeat in the March 5 parliamentary elections.

While Ghimire stated that the date of the 15th general convention will not be discussed at the upcoming central committee meeting, he said efforts will be made to persuade Thapa to withdraw his resignation.

The current central working committee was constituted in January through a special convention. As per the party charter, the party must convene its regular general convention within a year of the special convention.

Dissatisfied with the outcome of the special general convention, another Nepali Congress faction led by the party’s former president, Sher Bahadur Deuba, has moved court and the verdict is awaited.

During Friday’s meeting, party vice president Bishwa Prakash Sharma tabled a 27-page long report reviewing the reasons behind the party’s crushing defeat in the March 5 elections.

In his conclusion, Sharma attributed the defeat to several factors, including the failure of political parties to seriously pursue reform, the country's inability to secure a stable government, and repeated changes in leadership, with the same faces reappearing as prime ministers. According to Sharma, these issues fuelled public anger, and resulted in disappointing election results for the party. The party won just 38 seats in the 275-member lower house.

Sharma emphasised that the defeat was not due to any one leader, but rather a collective failure of the entire party. "The resignation of the President, taking moral responsibility, is undoubtedly a high moral gesture, and the party respects and appreciates it. However, the overall responsibility for this defeat lies not only with one leadership or one central committee. We, the entire Congress, are responsible for this defeat," his report stated.

Sharma also pointed out that the time constraints following the special general convention, with only five days before candidacy nominations, hampered the party’s efforts to reach the electorate effectively.

The defeat, Sharma argued, was not unexpected when viewed in the context of long-standing public dissatisfaction. The 2022 local elections in cities like Dharan, Dhangadhi, and Kathmandu had already shown voters readiness to support independent candidates. This trend was further solidified by the formation of a new political party [Rastriya Swatantra Party] shortly after the local elections.

Nepali Congress, despite emerging as the largest party in the 2022 general elections, failed to lead the government or remain a strong opposition force. Initially, the party entered into an alliance with the Maoists during the elections but later formed a power-sharing agreement with the CPN-UML. Sharma criticised his own party [leadership] for getting "stuck in a quagmire of contradictions" in the name of pragmatism, resulting in growing dissatisfaction within both the party and the public.

Sharma’s review also touched upon the country’s long history of political instability, where no prime minister has been able to govern for a full five years since the adoption of the new constitution in 2015. Over the past 34 years, 25 governments have been formed, contributing to widespread public frustration.

“The failure to provide a five-year prime minister and stable government led voters to look for stability elsewhere, which was one of the reasons for our defeat,” Sharma added.

Despite the strong foundation laid by the new constitution and the two-thirds majority government formed after the 2018 elections by the two communist leaders, opportunities for progress were missed, Sharma said. Instead, internal conflicts within the ruling party, the Nepal Communist Party (NCP), led to the dissolution of the House of Representatives, triggering Nepali Congress to step in and save the parliamentary process, he said.

However, this alliance, which was initially formed to defend the parliament and constitution, eventually became a tool for election victories, leading to growing resentment within the party ranks and a loss of popularity for the term ‘alliance’ among citizens, Sharma said.

One of the key points Sharma raised was the weakening role of the opposition in Nepal’s democracy. “When the opposition becomes part of the government, it weakens parliamentary opposition voices, and makes it harder to represent public dissatisfaction. Once opposition voices are muted, citizens’ issues are often pushed onto the streets by other forces," Sharma noted.

Earlier the party had instructed all its district committees to forward the reasons behind the crushing defeat of the party in the elections.