Nepali Congress President Gagan Kumar Thapa has decided not to resign despite growing calls within the party for him to take moral responsibility for its defeat in the March 5 elections. Following suggestions from his supporters, Thapa has chosen to focus on reviewing the party’s electoral performance instead of stepping down.
In the March 5 elections, the Nepali Congress secured only 18 out of 165 constituencies nationwide under the first-past-the-post system. Thapa himself was defeated in Sarlahi-4 by Amaresh Singh of the Rastriya Swatantra Party by a margin of 12,857 votes. Notably, none of the party’s office bearers who contested the election managed to win.
The party also saw a significant decline in its support base under the proportional representation system. Compared to the 2022 elections, the Nepali Congress lost 966,053 votes in this category.
Although the party remains the second-largest force in Parliament, it has secured only 38 seats in the 275-member House of Representatives, intensifying pressure on Thapa to resign.
