Rastriya Prajatantra Party

Not to be confused with Rastriya Prajatantra Party.

Rastriya Prajatantra Party राष्ट्रिय प्रजातन्त्र पार्टी
Abbreviation	RPP
Chairman	Rajendra Lingden
Senior Deputy Chairman	Rabindra Mishra
Deputy Chairman	Bikram Pandey Budhhiman Tamang Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan Rosan Karki
Founded	29 May 1990 (1990-05-29)
Headquarters	Charumati Bihar, Chabahil, Kathmandu, Nepal
Student wing	National Democratic Student Organization
Youth wing	National Democratic Youth Front
Women's wing	National Democratic Women's Union
Membership	150,000
Ideology	Hindutva Hindu nationalism National conservatism Economic liberalism Constitutional monarchism
Political position	Right-wing
International affiliation	International Democrat Union Asia Pacific Democrat Union
Colours
ECN Status	National Party
Seats in Pratinidhi Sabha	14 / 275
Seats in Rastriya Sabha	0 / 59
Seats in Provincial Assemblies	28 / 550
Mayors/Chairs	4 / 753
Councillors	305 / 35,011
Election symbol
Party flag
Website
rpp.org.np
Politics of Nepal Political parties Elections

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Nepali pronunciation: [rasʈrijʌ prʌˈd͡zatʌntrʌ ˈpa(r)ʈi]; Nepali: राष्ट्रिय प्रजातन्त्र पार्टी, lit. 'National Democratic Party'; abbr. RPP, RaPraPa (Nepali: राप्रपा) is a constitutional monarchist and Hindu nationalist political party in Nepal.

The party was formed by Panchayat era prime ministers Surya Bahadur Thapa and Lokendra Bahadur Chand in 1990. The party led two coalition governments in 1997 under Thapa and Chand. The two were also appointed prime minister by King Gyanendra in the 2000s; Chand in 2002 and Thapa in 2003.

Rajendra Prasad Lingden is currently serving as party chairman after being elected at the party's general convention in December 2021. Rastriya Prajatantra Party is currently the fifth-largest political party in the House of Representatives after winning 14 seats at the 2022 general election and is one of seven national parties recognized by the Election Commission. The party was briefly part of the ruling coalition government following the election, but has been in opposition since 25 February 2023.

History

Founding and early years, 1990–1994

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party was formed by the ruling elite of the Panchayat era on 29 May 1990. The party split in the same year after another group also registered itself with the Election Commission. The two parties had the same name, ideology and statute but different flags and election symbols. The two parties, one led by Surya Bahadur Thapa zand the other led by Lokendra Bahadur Chand, contested the 1991 elections. The two parties won four seats between them with Chand's party winning three seats and Thapa's party winning one seat. Following their performance at the elections the two parties agreed to merge into a single Rastriya Prajatantra Party on 8 February 1992.

The party held its first general convention from in 1992 from 11 to 16 June in Kathmandu and unanimously elected Surya Bahadur Thapa as its chairman. Lokendra Bahadur Chand and Rajeshwor Devkota were elected leader and co-chairman, respectively. The party emerged as a third force at the 1992 local elections and the 1994 general elections. The party received 18 percent of the votes and won 20 seats to the House of Representatives, making them the third largest party in the parliament.

Government and second split, 1995–1999

Coalition governments, 1995–1997

The party initially supported the minority government of CPN (UML) but later withdrew their support and backed a no-confidence motion Manmohan Adhikari. The party then joined a coalition government with Nepali Congress and Nepal Sadbhawana Party under the premiership of Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba. A faction of the party led by former prime minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand were dissatisfied with the coalition government and in March 1996 some cabinet ministers close to Chand withdrew their support for the Deuba government and resigned before a no-confidence vote was set to table by the opposition CPN (UML). The ministers withdrew their resignation before the no-confidence vote and Deuba won the confidence vote. Six cabinet ministers close to Chand again resigned from the government in December 1996 but supported Deuba in the confidence vote later and rejoined the cabinet.

Chand and Thapa governments, 1997–1998

In March 1997 a faction of the party led by Lokendra Bahadur Chand joined a coalition government with CPN (UML), with Chand as prime minister. On 3 October 1997, the faction led by Surya Bahadur Thapa voted for a no-confidence motion tabled by Nepali Congress and toppled the government. Thapa was then made the prime minister on 6 October 1997 with the support of Congress.

After losing support within his party Thapa asked King Birendra to dissolve the house and call for fresh elections. After the recommendation of the Supreme Court, the king called forth a special session of the parliament to debate the no-confidence motion filed against Thapa. Thapa survived the no-confidence vote and expelled six central committee members for threatening to back a no-confidence motion against him.

The second general convention of the party took place from 12 to 16 November 1997 in Birgunj. Surya Bahadur Thapa was re-elected for a second term as chairman. Prakash Chandra Lohani, Pashupati SJB Rana and Kamal Thapa were nominated as vice-chairman, general secretary and spokesman respectively. Lokendra Bahadur Chand however created his own Rastriya Prajatantra Party on 9 January 1998 claiming that Thapa had mismanaged the party, did not listen to the directions of the central committee and accused Thapa of not holding the general election in a fair manner. He broke off with 10 members of parliament including 8 from the House of Representatives and 2 from the National Assembly. Thapa resigned as prime minister on 10 April 1998 and was replaced by Nepali Congress president Girija Prasad Koirala.

The two parties contested the 1999 elections and fared badly in the election with the party winning 11 seats and the party led by Chand not winning any seats. Following the elections, the parties decided to merge again on 31 December 1999. A group led by Rajeshwar Devkota however decided not to rejoin the party and formed their own Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Nationalist).

Direct rule and internal conflicts, 2002–2015

Second Chand and Thapa governments, 2002–2006

The king dismissed the government of Sher Bahadur Deuba on 4 October 2002 after failing to conduct the elections following the dissolution of the House of Representatives on May earlier that year. Lokendra Bahadur Chand was then appointed as prime minister on 11 October 2002. He resigned on 31 May 2003 after protests from opposition parties calling for the restoration of the parliament and the formation of a national consensus government. Chand had also faced accusations from within his party of failing to address these issues. He was replaced by Surya Bahadur Thapa on 5 June 2002.

Former party chairmen, Surya Bahadur Thapa and Pashupati SJB Rana

At the third general convention of the party held in Pokhara from 12 to 14 December 2002, Surya Bahadur Thapa completed his second four-year term as party chairman and could not compete for the post of chairman again as per the party constitution. Pashupati SJB Rana was elected chairman during the convention and Padma Sundar Lawati, Kamal Thapa and Rosan Karki were nominated vice-president, general secretary and spokesperson respectively.

There were calls within the party for Surya Bahadur Thapa to resign as prime minister for undermining democracy by failing to form a national consensus government. He resigned on 7 May 2004 and was replaced by Nepali Congress (Democratic) leader Sher Bahadur Deuba. On 4 November 2004, Thapa announced that he would be quitting the party and forming a new centre-right liberal party. The party was formally launched on 13 March 2005 as Rastriya Janashakti Party.

On 1 February 2005, King Gyanendra dismissed Deuba as prime minister and seized executive powers. The party announced their support for the pro-democracy agitation led by the Seven Party Alliance but ten members of the party's central committee, including Kamal Thapa who had rejoined the party after leaving for Janashakti, supported the coup. Thapa along with six central committee members were appointed to the King's cabinet in December 2005 with Thapa becoming Home Minister.

On 10 January 2006, members of the central committee close to Kamal Thapa voted to replace Pashupati SJB Rana as party chairman with Thapa. Thapa's claim as new chairman was dismissed by other members of the party. Thapa's faction of the party contested the 2006 local elections that was boycotted by the Seven Party Alliance and the Rana faction of the party. The party won mayoral positions in major cities including Kathmandu, Pokhara, Bharatpur and Dhangadhi in an election marred by a lack of candidates, violence and low turnout. The party members that supported Thapa, including six incumbent cabinet ministers, were expelled. On 28 October 2006, they formed their own party, the royalist Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, under the leadership of Kamal Thapa.

Constituent Assembly, 2007–2015

The party held its fourth general convention from 9 to 11 December 2007 and re-elected Pashupati SJB Rana as party chairman. Following the 2006 revolution a national consensus government under the leadership of Girija Prasad Koirala was formed. The parliament was reinstated and eventually transformed into the Interim Legislature Parliament after including the Maoists. The party had eight seats in the parliament but two MPs, Budhhiman Tamang and Brijesh Kumar Gupta, were dismissed because of their support of the royal coup.

Pashupati SJB Rana: former chairperson of the party

In the 2008 elections the party failed to win a seat from the constituency vote but got 2.45% of the party list votes and won 8 seats to the 1st Constituent Assembly through the party-list proportional representation system. Party chairman Pashupati SJB Rana also lost from Sindhupalchowk 1. On 28 May 2008, at the first session of the 1st Constituent Assembly. The party voted in favor of abolishing the monarchy and turning Nepal into a republic. Lokendra Bahadur Chand who was serving as the parliamentary party leader of the party was absent during the vote. The party joined the Madhav Kumar Nepal led government in June 2009.

At the party's fifth general convention from 17 to 19 May 2013, the Rastriya Janashakti Party merged into the party and Surya Bahadur Thapa was elected as the chairman of the unified party. It was also decided that the senior leadership would rotate annually between Surya Bahadur Thapa, Lokendra Bahadur Chand, Pashupati SJB Rana and Prakash Chandra Lohani. In the 2013 elections, the party won constituency seats in Rupandehi 2, Chitwan 5 and Dhankuta 2 and got 2.75% of the party list votes and won 10 seats through the party-list proportional representation system for a total of 13 seats in the 2nd Constituent Assembly. The party supported the CPN (UML)–Nepali Congress coalition government under Sushil Koirala following the election and sent two ministers to the cabinet.

Federal Nepal, 2016–present

Flag of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party until 2016

Continued internal conflicts, 2016–2020

On 21 November 2016, the party announced its unification with the Kamal Thapa led Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal. The new party retained the name of Rastriya Prajatantra Party. The new party had a total strength of 37 in the Parliament of Nepal, becoming the fourth largest party. Thapa was elected as chairman of the party in a special general convention in Kathmandu in February 2017. The party joined the coalition government on 9 March 2017 under CPN (Maoist Centre) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal with Kamal Thapa serving as deputy prime minister. Prakash Chandra Lohani split away from the party following the decision to join the government and because of issues regarding the electoral symbol of the party. He announced the formation of Ekikrit Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Nationalist) on 29 March 2017. Another split occurred on 6 August 2017 after Pashupati SJB Rana broke away forming Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Democratic). The party joined the coalition government under Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba on 13 October 2017 with Kamal Thapa again serving as deputy prime minister.

In the 2017 general and provincial elections, Rastriya Prajantatra Party formed an alliance with Nepali Congress and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Democratic). The party only won one seat to the House of Representatives and party chairman Kamal Thapa lost in Makwanpur 1. Only general secretary Rajendra Lingden was elected from Jhapa 3 after forging an electoral pact with the Left Alliance against Nepali Congress in some eastern districts including Jhapa. The party got 2.06% of the party list votes and could not become a national party after failing to pass the 3% threshold in party list voting. The party also won one seat each to provincial assemblies of Province 1, Province 3 and Province 6.

Re-unification and new leadership, 2020–present

See also: 2021 general convention of Rastriya Prajatantra Party

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Samyukta), created through the merger of Rana and Lohani's splinter groups, merged with the party on 12 March 2020, with Kamal Thapa, Pashupati Shamsher Jang Bahadur Rana and Prakash Chandra Lohani all acting as chairs. In July 2020, Sunil Bahadur Thapa, the son of former prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa, resigned from the party and joined Nepali Congress. The party conducted its general convention from 1 to 3 December 2021 and elected Rajendra Prasad Lingden as the party's chairman. He defeated former deputy prime minister and incumbent party chairman Kamal Thapa at the general convention. The party also announced that it had 150,000 active party members. The general convention also elected Nepalgunj mayor Dhawal Shamsher Rana as the party's general secretary and former member of constituent assembly Bikram Pandey as the party vice-president. Following the general convention, Kamal Thapa left the party and revived the Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal.

The party announced intentions to unify other pro-monarchist groups under their umbrella and groups including Nepal Ka Lagi Nepali Campaign, Mission Nepal, Gorach Abhiyan and the Gyanendra Shahi led Hamro Nepal Hami Nepali Campaign joined the party in the following months. Former chairman of Bibeksheel Sajha Party, Rabindra Mishra also joined the party on 28 September 2022 as senior vice-president.

The party fielded 140 candidates to the House of Representatives at the 2022 general and provincial elections and forged an election pact with CPN (UML) in Jhapa, Banke and Rupandehi districts. Party chairman Rajendra Lingden retained his seat in Jhapa 3 and the party gained 6 more direct seats. The party also got 5.58% of the party list vote to become one of seven national parties in the Federal Parliament. The party won 7 proportional seats for a total of 14 seats at the House of Representatives. The party was also successful in winning seats to all seven provincial assemblies.

Ideology

Electoral symbol of the party until 2020

The Rastriya Prajatantra Party was established as an alternative force to the major political parties, Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist). The party was founded on the principles of democracy, constitutional monarchy, nationalism and economic liberalism. At the time of the party's foundation Surya Bahadur Thapa's party was considered as the more liberal party and Lokendra Bahadur Chand's party was considered as the more conservative party.

Monarchy and federal structure

At the first session of the 1st Constituent Assembly, the party voted to abolish the monarchy and turn Nepal into a secular republic. Later however, the party advocated for turning Nepal into a Hindu republic. Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal, a splinter group of the party which had voted against abolishing the monarchy changed its constitution to support the re-establishment of the Hindu state and a return to constitutional monarchy. After the merger between the two parties in November 2016 it was announced that the unified party would take up the constitution of Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal. The party has stated support for a Sanatan Hindu state with full religious freedom and registered an amendment proposal for such on 19 March 2017. The Election Commission removed the portion of the party statute that advocated for a Hindu state and monarchy on 17 March 2017 and asked the party to remove the provisions again on 22 January 2022 claiming that it was against Article 260 of the Constitution of Nepal.

The party supports a ceremenional monarch, a directly elected prime minister and a fully proportional parliament. The party also calls for the scrapping of the provincial governments claiming that it is an expensive experiment. The party wants to instead strengthen the local governments and create a two-tier federal structure.

Electoral performance

Legislative elections

% Votes of RPP and its splinter groups
11.94   5.38 6.56 17.93   17.93 13.85   10.44 3.41 4.43   2.45 0.95 1.03 9.41   2.75 6.66 3.29   2.06 0.93 0.30 5.7   5.58 0.12 1991 1994 1999 2008 2013 2017 2022	9.51   RPP (6.66) RPP (C) (1.42) RJSP (0.14) RPPN (1.12) RPP(D) (0.13) URPP(N) (0.04) Average

Election	Leader	Votes			Seats		Position	Resulting government
		No.	%	+/-	No.	+/-
1991	Surya Bahadur Thapa	392,499	5.38		1 / 205		7th	Opposition
	Lokendra Bahadur Chand	478,604	6.56		3 / 205		5th	Opposition
1994	Surya Bahadur Thapa	1,367,148	17.93		20 / 205	19	3rd	Support for minority government
1999	Surya Bahadur Thapa	899,511	10.44		11 / 205	9	3rd	Opposition
	Lokendra Bahadur Chand	293,952	3.41		0 / 205		9th	Opposition
2008	Pashupati SJB Rana	310,214	3.01		8 / 575	3	8th	Opposition
2013	Surya Bahadur Thapa	238,313	2.63	0.38	13 / 575	5	6th	Coalition government
2017	Kamal Thapa	196,782	2.06	0.57	1 / 275	12	7th	Opposition
2022	Rajendra Prasad Lingden	588,849	5.58	3.52	14 / 275	13	5th	Coalition government
								Opposition

Provincial elections

Koshi

See also: Koshi Provincial Assembly

Election	Votes			Seats		Position	Resulting government
	No.	%	+/-	No.	+/-
2017	57,342	3.30		1 / 93		5th	Opposition
2022	198,511	10.45	7.15	6 / 93	5	4th	Coalition government

Madhesh

See also: Madhesh Provincial Assembly

Election	Votes			Seats		Position	Resulting government
	No.	%	+/-	No.	+/-
2017	17,039	1.11		0 / 107		7th	Extra-parliamentary
2022	65,054	3.12	2.01	1 / 107	1	8th	Confidence & supply
							Opposition

Bagmati

See also: Bagmati Provincial Assembly

Election	Votes			Seats		Position	Resulting government
	No.	%	+/-	No.	+/-
2017	59,268	3.13		2 / 110		5th	Opposition
2022	275,562	14.23	11.10	13 / 110	11	4th	Coalition government
							Opposition

Gandaki

See also: Gandaki Provincial Assembly

Election	Votes			Seats		Position	Resulting government
	No.	%	+/-	No.	+/-
2017	15,649	1.64		0 / 40		7th	Extra-parliamentary
2022	59,483	6.03	4.39	2 / 40	2	4th	Coalition government
							Opposition

Lumbini

See also: Lumbini Provincial Assembly

Election	Votes			Seats		Position	Resulting government
	No.	%	+/-	No.	+/-
2017	23,213	1.44		0 / 87		7th	Extra-parliamentary
2022	127,452	6.75	5.31	4 / 87	4	4th	Confidence & supply
							Opposition

Karnali

See also: Karnali Provincial Assembly

Election	Votes			Seats		Position	Resulting government
	No.	%	+/-	No.	+/-
2017	15,629	3.16		1 / 40		4th	Opposition
2022	25,186	4.36	1.20	1 / 40		5th	Confidence & supply
							Opposition

Sudurpashchim

See also: Sudurpashchim Provincial Assembly

Election	Votes			Seats		Position	Resulting government
	No.	%	+/-	No.	+/-
2017	15,444	1.95		0 / 53		5th	Extra-parliamentary
2022	44,233	4.93	2.98	1 / 53	1	6th	Confidence & supply
							Opposition

Leadership

Chairpersons

Current party chairman, Rajendra Prasad Lingden

• Surya Bahadur Thapa (1990–2002, 2013–2014)
• Pashupati SJB Rana (2002–2013, 2014–2016, 2020–2021)
• Kamal Thapa (2016–2021)
• Prakash Chandra Lohani (2020–2021)
• Rajendra Lingden (2021–present)

Prime Ministers

No.	Prime Minister	Portrait	Terms in Office			Legislature	Cabinet	Constituency
			Start	End	Tenure
1.	Lokendra Bahadur Chand		12 March 1997	7 October 1997	209 days	3rd House of Representatives	Chand, 1997	Baitadi 2
			11 October 2002	5 June 2003	237 days	Appointed by King Gyanendra	Chand, 2002
2.	Surya Bahadur Thapa		7 October 1997	15 April 1998	190 days	3rd House of Representatives	Thapa, 1998	Dhankuta 2
			5 June 2003	4 September 2004	1 year, 91 days	Appointed by King Gyanendra	Thapa, 2003

Deputy Prime Ministers

No.	Prime Minister	Portrait	Terms in Office			Legislature	Cabinet	Constituency
			Start	End	Tenure
1.	Kamal Thapa		12 October 2015	4 August 2016	297 days	Constituent Assembly	Oli, 2015	Party list
			17 October 2017	14 February 2018	120 days	Constituent Assembly	Deuba, 2017
2.	Rajendra Prasad Lingden		17 January 2023	25 February 2023	39 days	2nd Federal Parliament	Dahal, 2023	Jhapa 3

Current leadership

No.	Portfolio	Office holder	Terms in Office
			Start	End	Tenure
1.	Chairman	Rajendra Prasad Lingden	5 December 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 179 days
2.	Senior Deputy Chairman	Rabindra Mishra	28 September 2022	Incumbent	1 year, 247 days
3.	Deputy Chairman	Bikram Pandey	5 December 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 179 days
		Buddhi Man Tamang
		Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan
		Roshan Karki
		Hemjung Gurung
		Mukundashyam Giri
4.	General Secretary	Dhawal Shamsher Rana	5 December 2021	Incumbent	2 years, 179 days
		Bhuwan Pathak
		Kunti Shahi
		Rajendra Gurung	31 January 2022		2 years, 122 days
		Pralhad Prasad Sah
		Sharad Raj Pathak	22 December 2022		1 year, 162 days
5.	Spokesperson	Bhakti Prasad Sitaula	31 January 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 122 days
		Mohan Shrestha
		Sagun Sundar Lawati
		Gopal Dahal
		Gyanendra Shahi	15 February 2021		2 years, 107 days
6.	Joint General Secretary	Mohan Prasad Yadav	31 January 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 122 days
		Dhan Bahadur Budha
		Shyam Bahadur Shahi
		Prakash Rimal
		Rabindra Pratap Shah
		Jhanak Pyakurel
		Reena Gurung
7.	Assistant Spokesperson	Pravin Kumar Thokar Tamang	31 January 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 122 days
		Dinesh Kumar Sah
		Purna Bahadur Chand
8.	Assistant General Secretary	Ramnand Neupane	31 January 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 122 days
		Bijay Khadka
		Prem Balayar
		Rishiraj Devkota
		Tahir Ali
		Deepak Kumar Rai

Provincial Committee Chairs

Province	Chairman	Term start	Reference
Province No. 1	Ram Thapa	2021
Province No. 2	Bharat Giri
Bagmati Province	Bikram Thapa
Gandaki Province	Hem Jung Gurung
Lumbini Province	Pradip Kumar Uday
Karnali Province	Dip Bahadur Shahi
Sudurpashchim Province	Dharma Raj Joshi

List of current Members of Parliament

Rastriya Prajatantra Party (14)
Constituency/PR group	Member	Portfolio & Responsibilities/Remarks
Jhapa 3	Rajendra Lingden	Parliamentary party leader
Jumla 1	Gyan Bahadur Shahi	Chief whip
Banke 2	Dhawal Shamsher Rana
Chitwan 3	Bikram Pandey
Makwanpur 1	Deepak Bahadur Singh
Nawalparasi West 2	Dhruba Bahadur Pradhan
Rupandehi 3	Deepak Bohara
Dalit	Anisha Nepali
Madheshi	Bina Jaiswal
Indigenous peoples	Bina Lama
Indigenous peoples	Budhhiman Tamang
Khas Arya	Gita Basnet
Khas Arya	Pashupati Shamsher Rana
Khas Arya	Rosan Karki

Sister Organizations

• National Democratic Student Organization
• National Democratic Youth Front
• National Democratic Women's Union

See also

• General Convention of Rastriya Prajatantra Party (2021)

External links

• Party website
• Info on the party from FES