# Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist)

The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist) (Nepali: नेपाल कम्युनिष्ट पार्टी (एकीकृत-समाजवादी), romanized: Nēpāla kamyuniṣṭa pārṭī (Ēkīkr̥ta-Samājavādī)), abbreviated as CPN (Unified Socialist) is a political party in Nepal led by former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal. As of July 2023, the party leads Socialist Front and is an important ally in the governing coalition.
Former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal is the chairman of the party and former Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal serves as the senior leader. The party was officially registered at the Election Commission, Nepal on 18 August 2021 while it received its certificate of registration on 25 August when the Election Commission verified its application with signature of more than twenty percent in both central committee and federal parliamentary party.

## Ideology

The party's ideology consists of Marxism–Leninism and support for a multi-party system. The party also favors socialist-oriented economy.

## History
### Formation

The President of Nepal, on the recommendation of the council of ministers issued second amendment on political parties related act on 18 August 2021 relaxing the requirements to split parties with 20 percent or more members of the Parliamentary Party and the Central Committee of the political party.
This same amendment opened the way to formalize the splits caused due to the dispute between two factions of Janata Samajbadi Party, Nepal and CPN(UML) respectively. The CPN(UML) faction led by Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhala Nath Khanal which had a long dispute with CPN(UML) chairman KP Sharma Oli had applied to register their party by the name ''CPN (Unified Socialist)'' with the Election Commission. However, the Election Commission requested him not to register under a preregistered name by including some adjectives.
At the time of the launch of the party, leaders claimed to have 31 members in the two national houses of parliament including 23 from House of Representatives and 8 from National Assembly. A Central Committee with 95 members was announced as well. However, many politicians of the mother party CPN(UML) had not finalised their decision yet including party less leader Bam Dev Gautam. Madhav Kumar Nepal was announced to act as the coordinator of the party.
The decision of Nepal to form a new party was however met with some criticism from within his own faction. The second generation leaders close to him boycotted the decision except party secretary Jeevan Ram Shrestha and Ram Kumari Jhakri. Leaders including Ghanashyam Bhusal and Yogesh Bhattarai sided with KP Sharma Oli for party unity. This faction included leaders like Yubaraj Gyawali, Asta Laxmi Shakya, Bhim Rawal, Ghanashyam Bhusal, Gokarna Bista, Bhim Acharya, Yogesh Bhattarai and standing committee members including Surendra Pandey, Raghuji Panta and Amrit Bohora. They even attended the standing committee meeting of 8th Bhadra which called upon Nepal faction for party unity for a final time and instructed CPN (UML) to fulfill their 10 points demand. Howeven the 10 point demand was never followed. Later Bhim Rawal and Ghanashyam Bhusal were ditched and side lined from the party after 10th general convention of former party for not following party supremo Oli.
On the same day (8th Bhadra), Nepal arranged a meeting where he presented the party's doctrine and announced that People's Multiparty Democracy would be their guiding philosophy.

### Party Authentication

Following the registration, the Election Commission had summoned CPN (Unified Socialist) on 9th Bhadra for authentication. As per the new provision the party had to present signatures 20% of either the central committee or the parliamentary party to authenticate the registration. The party was able to meet the threshold with 55 out of 205 members of the central committee and 9 out of 33 of the National Assembly and 24 out of 121 of House of Representatives.
Among these members, Pradeep Nepal, a central committee member who was earlier close to Oli, was present during signature session. The signature of Jhalanath Khanal who signed it from Delhi was counted although the Election Commission had rejected his previous request to accept such signatures as he had been in Delhi for his kidney transplant. However, the Election Commission rejected to accept the signatures of Som Prasad Pandey, Maya Gyawali, Tulsa Thapa and Sharada Devi Bhatta as they had not signed the earlier application for party registration. Letter a petition was filed at Supreme Court which allowed them to join the new party.

### Organization development and first local election

The party election just eight months after the party formation. Even though the period of organization development was short, party caders got elected unopposed as chairperson of Kaike and Chharka Tangsong rural municipalities of Dolpa district which remained the highest won unopposed by any party. While the party went to election without alliance in Madhesh Province, the party won six local levels out of which four were from Rautahat, the home district of party chair Madhav Kumar Nepal. The party gave close contest to Nepali Congress. Here, the party won five municipalities and one rural municipality. The party won mayor of Pokhara Metropolitan city and Hetauda Sub-metropolitan city destroying red fort of CPN (UML). Although the party obtained support of alliance in numerous places, it was able to bag only twenty local levels signing that the party organization had still not developed as expected.
As a whole, the party won 20 heads, 24 deputy heads, 190 ward chairs and 753 ward members with a total of 986 seats throughout the country. The party went most successful in Madhesh Province where it bagged 6 heads, 5 deputy heads, 80 ward chairs and 310 ward members with a total of 401 seats and that too without any pre electoral alliance contributing to 40% of total national wins.

## Party merger and integration

A number of parties have merged with CPN (Unified Socialist) since its formation:
| Year | Party | Leader |
| 2021 | CPN (Janavadi) | Devendra Singh Mahato |
| 2021 | CPN (Unified) | Alok Rayamajhi |
| 2021 | CPN (Gaurabshali) | Bhabishwar Parajuli |
| 2021 | Unified Socialist Front | Sewantraj Bhandari |
| 2022 | Independent Communist Group | Ghanashyam Bhusal |

## Organization and structure
### Central organization
#### Secretariat

A twelve-member secretariat (also known as High Command) of the party was created. It included:
* Chairperson: Madhav Kumar Nepal
* General secretary: Ghanashyam Bhusal
* Members: Jhala Nath Khanal, Ram Chandra Jha, Rajendra Prasad Pandey, Beduram Bhusal, Pramesh Kumar Hamal, Jayanti Rai, Prakash Jwala, Gangalal Tuladhar, Bijay Paudel and Jagannath Khatiwada

#### Standing Committee

The 34 member Standing Committee of the Central Political Bureau has been formed.

#### Politburo

An 86-member politburo has been formed after the formation of the standing committee and central committee.

#### Central Committee

The central committee had a total of 355 members.

## Leadership

The party has one chairperson, seven deputy chairpersons, one General secretary, four Deputy general secretary and six Secretary. Altogether there are 18 party portfolio holders. Jhalanath Khanal is senior leader and Pradeep Nepal is the leader of the party and are kept at position two and three respectively.

### Chairperson

* Madhav Kumar Nepal

### Senior Vice Chairperson

* Rajendra Prasad Pandey

### Vice-chairman

* Gangalal Tuladhar
* Bhanu Bhakta Joshi
* Prakash Jwala
* Jagannath Khatiwada
* Dharmanath Prasad Sah
* Jayanti Devi Rai

### General Secretary

* Ghanashyam Bhusal

### Deputy General Secretary

* Metmani Chaudhary
* Ram Kumar Bhattarai
* Garima Shah
* Rajendra Kumar Rai

### Secretary

* Sher Bahadur Kunwor
* Som Prasad Pandey
* Shreenath Baral
* Sabitra Bhusal
* Chandra Bahadur Shahi
* Ganesh Bishwakarma
* Baldev Chaudhary

### Provincial committees

| Province | Incharge | Deputy Incharge | Chairman | Deputy Chairman | Secretary | Deputy secretary |
| Province No. 1 | Dhanendra Basnet | Rajendra Kumar Rai | Baldev Chaudhary | Dharma Raj Niraula Rajan Rai | Mahesh Regmi | Sarita Thapa |
| Madhesh | Dharma Nath Prasad Sah | Ratneshwar Goit Ram Pirit Paswan | Ram Chandra Yadav | Laxman Paudel Ram Chandra Sah Teli | Sudhir Sah | Narayan Acharya |
| Bagmati | Kedar Neupane | Jeevan Ram Shrestha Sadhya Bahadur Bhandari Krishna Prasad Khanal | Sabitra Bhusal | Bidur Sapkota Tok Bahadur Waiba | Laxman Lamsal | |
| Gandaki | Keshav Lal Shrestha | Tul Bahadur Gurung Sharda Subedi | Ramji Sharma | Shree Nath Baral Prem Narayan Paudel | Pratap Lal Shrestha | Rekha Thapa Bashyal |
| Lumbini | Bhagwat Biswasi | Nirmala Subedi | Som Prasad Pandey | Pitambar Bhusal | Raju Gurung | Brihaspati Adhikari Sarada Swarnakar Hari Prasad Gharti |
| Karnali | Prakash Jwala | Chandra Bahadur Shahi Sher Bahadur KC Hansa Bahadur Shahi | Amar Bahadur Thapa | Devi Lal Thapa Nanda Sharma Chapai | Thagendra Prasad Puri | Gopal Bahadur Bam Krishna BC |
| Sudurpaschim | Garima Shah | Devendra Singh Mahat Prem Ale Nira Devi Jairu Ram Kumar Gyawali Parmananda Bhatta | Harka Bahadur Singh | Sher Bahadur Kunwor | Dinesh Chandra Subedi | Dirgha Bahadur Sodari Maya Bhatta |
| Kathmandu Valley (Special) | Bishwa Nath Pyakurel | Pramod Sharma | Kedar Sanjel | | Bishnu Lamsal | |

## Chief ministers
### Koshi Province

| No. | Chief Minister | Portrait | Terms in Office | Terms in Office | Terms in Office | Legislature | Cabinet | Constituency |
| No. | Chief Minister | Portrait | Start | End | Tenure | Legislature | Cabinet | Constituency |
| 1 | Rajendra Kumar Rai | | 2 November 2021 | 9 January 2023 | 1 year, 68 days | 1st Assembly | R. K. Rai, 2021 | Bhojpur 1(B) |

### Bagmati Province

| No. | Chief Minister | Portrait | Terms in Office | Terms in Office | Terms in Office | Legislature | Cabinet | Constituency |
| No. | Chief Minister | Portrait | Start | End | Tenure | Legislature | Cabinet | Constituency |
| 1 | Rajendra Prasad Pandey | | 27 October 2021 | 23 December 2022 | 1 year, 51 days | 1st Assembly | Pandey, 2021 | Dhading 1(A) |

### Sudurpashchim Province

| No. | Chief Minister | Portrait | Terms in Office | Terms in Office | Terms in Office | Legislature | Cabinet | Constituency |
| No. | Chief Minister | Portrait | Start | End | Tenure | Legislature | Cabinet | Constituency |
| 1 | Dirgha Bahadur Sodari | | 18 April 2024 | 5 August 2024 | 109 days | 2nd Assembly | Sodari, 2024 | Kailali 4(B) |

## Electoral performance
### General election

| Election | Leader | Party list votes | Party list votes | Seats | Position | Resulting government |
| Election | Leader | No. | % | Seats | Position | Resulting government |
| 2022 | Madhav Kumar Nepal | 298,391 | 2.83 | 10 / 275 | 7th | Coalition Government |
* ↑ 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 | Votes | Percentage | Seats | Position | Resulting government |
| Province No. 1 | 2022 | 55,957 | 2.95 | 4 / 93 | 5th | In opposition |
| Madhesh | 2022 | 113,915 | 5.46 | 7 / 107 | 7th | Confidence & supply |
| Bagmati | 2022 | 68,101 | 3.52 | 7 / 110 | 4th | In opposition |
| Gandaki | 2022 | 15,076 | 1.53 | 1 / 60 | 6th | In opposition |
| Lumbini | 2022 | 42,621 | 2.26 | 1 / 87 | 9th | In opposition |
| Karnali | 2022 | 35,826 | 6.20 | 1 / 40 | 4th | In opposition |
| Sudurpaschim | 2022 | 43,819 | 4.89 | 5 / 53 | 5th | In opposition |

## List of Members of Parliament
### List of Rastriya Sabha members from CPN (Unified Socialist)

| No. | Name | Province | Appointment date | Retirement date |
| 1. | Jayanti Rai | Province No. 1 | 2022 | 2028 |
| 2. | Beduram Bhusal | Bagmati | 2020 | 2026 |
| 3. | Goma Devi Timalsina | Bagmati | 2022 | 2028 |
| 4. | Singha Bahadur Bishwakarma | Bagmati | 2018 | 2024 |
| 5. | Rajya Laxmi Gaire | Lumbini | 2022 | 2028 |
| 6. | Udaya Bohara | Karnali | 2022 | 2028 |
| 7. | Nanda Sharma | Karnali | 2018 | 2024 |
| 8. | Madan Kumari Shah | Sudurpashchim | 2022 | 2028 |

### List of Pratinidhi Sabha members from CPN (Unified Socialist)

| No. | Name | Constituency | Province | Elected from |
| 1. | Amar Bahadur Thapa | Dailekh 1 | Karnali | 2022 Nepalese general election |
| 2. | Bhanu Bhakta Joshi | Bajhang 1 | Sudurpashchim | 2022 Nepalese general election |
| 3. | Dhan Bahadur Buda | Dolpa 1 | Karnali | 2022 Nepalese general election |
| 4. | Krishna Kumar Shrestha | Bara 4 | Madhesh | 2022 Nepalese general election |
| 5. | Madhav Kumar Nepal | Rautahat 1 | Madhesh | 2022 Nepalese general election |
| 6. | Metmani Chaudhary | Dang 1 | Lumbini | 2022 Nepalese general election |
| 7. | Prakash Jwala | Salyan 1 | Karnali | 2022 Nepalese general election |
| 8. | Prem Bahadur Ale | Doti 1 | Sudurpashchim | 2022 Nepalese general election |
| 9. | Rajendra Prasad Pandey | Dhading 1 | Bagmati | 2022 Nepalese general election |
| 10. | Sher Bahadur Kunwor | Achham 1 | Sudurpashchim | 2022 Nepalese general election |

## Sister organizations

Following are the sister organizations of the party:
* Integrated Centre of Trade Unions, Nepal (एकीकृत ट्रेड युनियन महासंघ, नेपाल)
* Youth Federation Nepal (युवा संघ नेपाल)
* All Nepal National Free Students Union (अखिल नेपाल राष्ट्रिय स्वतन्त्र विद्यार्थी युनियन)
* All Nepal Women's Association (Socialist) (अखिल नेपाल महिला सङ्घ (समाजवादी))
* All Nepal Peasants Association (अखिल नेपाल किसान महासंघ)
* Progressive Nepal National Teachers Association (प्रगतिशील नेपाल राष्ट्रिय शिक्षक संघ)