# Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Nepal

The Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Nepal (Nepali: लोकतान्त्रिक समाजवादी पार्टी, lit. 'Democratic Socialist Party') is the tenth largest political party in Nepal. The party has a significant presence in Madhesh Province and Lumbini Province of Nepal. The party's election symbol is a bicycle.
The party was officially registered with the Election Commission, Nepal on 18 August 2021. Mahantha Thakur is the president of the new party. As of August 2022, the party shares an alliance with Nepali Congress.

## Ideology

The party follows the norms of social democracy, identity and Madhesi rights.
Ideologically, the party has been close to the Nepali Congress, while majority of its leaders have been part of Congress at different points in time, especially before the 2006 Madhesh Movement. Party president Mahantha Thakur and senior leader Sharat Singh Bhandari were popular Congress men at a time. Thakur himself was treasurer and head of party disciplinary department before he left the Nepali Congress party. They were elected several times to the House of Representatives on the party ticket.

## History
### Registration

The President of Nepal issued the second ordinance to amend the Political Parties Act on 18 August 2021. This opened the way to formalize the splits inside the dispute between two factions of Janata Samajbadi Party, Nepal. The faction of party led by Mahantha Thakur, which had a long dispute with party chairman Upendra Yadav registered their party with the Election Commission. At the time of the launch, the party claimed to have 13 members in the two national houses of parliament.
The new party was supported by 16 MLAs in Madhesh Provincial Assembly. A Central Committee with 24 members was announced as well.

### First local election

The party emerged as fourth largest party of Madhesh province winning 16 local levels from among 753 local levels even standing alone in the elections. Nepali Congress emerged as single largest party of Madhesh province for second consecutive term, CPN (UML) emerged as second and while Janta Samajbadi was limited to third position.

### First general election

In the mid of March, the party started talks with the Nepali Congress for a possible long term alliance between the two parties. Party chairman revealed this in a party meet in Janakpur on 22 March 2022. The party formed a committee for bilateral talks with Nepali Congress consisting Sharbendra Nath Shukla and Laxman Lal Karna in which party senior leader Sharat Singh Bhandari played vital role as mediator.
Bhandari had stood long for a Loktantrik alliance between democratic parties of Nepal. Both Loktantrik Samajwadi Party and Nepali Congress have some common ideologies including social democracy, democratic socialism. The party won 9 seats in Madhesh province while it won 3 seats in Lumbini province. However, in the general election it was limited to 4 seats only after being unable to cross 3% threshold due to wave of newly formed parties.

## List of Members of Parliament
### Members of Rastriya Sabha

Loktantrik Samajwadi Party (1) :
| Constituency | Member | Portfolio & Responsibilities / Remarks |
| Madhesh | Shekhar Kumar Singh | Parliamentary party leader |

### Members of Pratinidhi Sabha

Loktantrik Samajwadi Party (4) :
| Constituency/PR group | Member | Portfolio & Responsibilities / Remarks |
| Mahottari 3 | Mahantha Thakur | Parliamentary party leader |
| Sarlahi 1 | Ram Prakash Chaudhary | Chief whip |
| Mahottari 2 | Sharat Singh Bhandari | |
| Rupandehi 4 | Sarbendra Nath Shukla | |

## Electoral performance
### General election

| Election | Leader | Party list votes | Party list votes | Seats | Position | Resulting government |
| Election | Leader | No. | % | Seats | Position | Resulting government |
| 2022 | Mahantha Thakur | 167,367 | 1.58 | 4 / 275 | 9th | Confidence & supply |
* ↑ Represented as Independent for not reaching the 3% threshold

### Provincial election

| Province | Election | Party list votes | Party list votes | Seats | Position | Resulting government |
| Province | Election | No. | % | Seats | Position | Resulting government |
| Madhesh | 2022 | 113,364 | 5.43 | 9 / 107 | 5th | Confidence & supply |
| Lumbini | 2022 | 37,631 | 1.99 | 3 / 87 | 6th | Confidence & supply |

### Local election

| Election | Leader | Mayoral seats won |
| 2022 | Mahantha Thakur | 16 / 753 |

## List of cabinet ministers

| No. | Name | Term of office | Term of office | Days in office | Ministerial incharge |
| Central government |||||||
| 1 | Sharat Singh Bhandari | 31 March 2023 | 4 March 2024 | 339 days | Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security |
| 1 | Sharat Singh Bhandari | 15 July 2024 | Incumbent | 179 days | Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security |
| Madhesh government |||||||
| 1 | Ramesh Prasad Kurmi | 25 May 2023 | 16 April 2024 | 327 days | Minister for Forest and Environment |
| 2 | Rani Kumari Tiwari | 18 July 2024 | Incumbent | 176 days | Minister for Education and Culture |
| Lumbini government |||||||
| 1 | Santosh Kumar Pandeya | 28 April 2023 | 4 April 2024 | 342 days | Minister for Interior Affairs, Law and Co-operatives |

## Leadership
### Chairmen

* Mahantha Thakur (2021–present)