Sixth-time NC parliamentary party leader Deuba’s political journey

KATHMANDU: Prime Minister and Nepali Congress (NC) president Sher Bahadur Deuba has been elected the NC parliamentary party leader in an election held to the post this morning.

Deuba secured 64 votes while his competitor, party general secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa, collected 25 votes. A total 89 votes were cast in the election.

Party’s senior leader Ram Chandra Poudel was the proposer of Deuba’s candidacy while party vice-president Purna Bahadur Khadka was the backer.

Similarly, leader Dr Shekhar Koirala was the proposer of general secretary Thapa’s candidacy while vice-president Dhanaraj Gurung, general secretary Bishwo Prakash Sharma and central member Pradip Poudel seconded the proposal.

The party’s House of Representatives (HoR) members are the voters in this election. The NC won 89 seats in the Hor, including 57 through the first-past-the-post and 32 towards the proportional representation system in the HoR elections held on Nov 20.

With this, Deuba has been elected the NC parliamentary party leader for the sixth time. Before this, he was elected to the post in 2051 BS, 2058 BS, 2063 BS, 2072 BS and 2074 BS.

The NC president is continuously active in politics for the last six decades. He was re-elected the party president for a second term in the 14th general convention of the party.

Born on Jestha 31, 2003 BS at Ruwakhola, Ashigram-5 in Dadeldhura district, Deuba was inspired by Nepal’s veteran political leader BP Koirala, the founding leader of the NC. He joined politics with this motivation.

He currently lives in Bhadrakali of Budhanilkantha Municipality. He was consistently active in the democracy movement of Nepal following the political coup of 2017 by then king Mahendra. Deuba dabbled into politics from the student movement.

He received his primary education in his home district, his secondary school education from Doti and higher education from Kathmandu.

Deuba has a Master’s degree in Political Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Law from Tribhuvan University. He is a Political Science Research Fellow of the London School of Economics.

He is the first elected founder president of the Nepal Students Union (NSU), a sister organisation of the Nepali Congress.

Deuba was elected an MP in the parliamentary elections of 2048 BS, 2051 BS, 2056 BS, 2074 BS and 2079 BS from Dadeldhura. He won the general election in 2064 BS and 2070 BS from Kanchanpur and Kailali districts as well, besides Dadeldhura.

Having become Home Minister in 2048 BS, he took charge of coveted post of Prime Minister for five times at intervals, first time between Sept 11, 1995 and 9 March, 1997 and second time between July 22, 2001 and Oct 4, 2002 before he was sacked as PM by the then King Gyanendra Shah the same day.

On June 3, 2004, he again looked after the position for the third times before being sacked again by Shah on Feb 1, 2005.

He led the Nepali Congress (Democratic), a breakaway party from mother Nepali Congress following an intraparty conflict in 2059 BS.

He became party’s senior leader after the unification between the NC (Democratic) and the NC in 2064 BS. He was elected the party president from party’s 13th general convention that was held on 7 March, 2016.

Again for the fourth time, he took charge of PM on 6 June, 2017 following a decision from the parliament meeting.

Elections to the three levels, local, state and federal were successfully organised for the first time as per the new constitution under the government led by him.

He was elected PM for the fifth time on July 13, 2021. Local elections and elections to the HoR and the State Assembly were successfully organised on May 13 and Sept 20 respectively under the government led by him.

He also took charge of Vice President of the Socialist International between 2008 and 2012, and International Vice President of the organisation since 2013 until recently. He spent 10 years in prison during democratic movements.