# Madhav Kumar Nepal

Madhav Kumar Nepal (Nepali: माधवकुमार नेपाल, ; born 6 March 1953), is a Nepalese politician and former Prime Minister of Nepal. He served as prime minister from 25 May 2009 to 6 February 2011.
He previously served as the Deputy Prime Minister along with the charges of important ministries like Foreign Affairs and Defence in the cabinet of Man Mohan Adhikari. He was previously the executive General Secretary of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) for 15 years.
Since 18 August 2021, he has been serving as the chairman of the CPN (Unified Socialist), a new party formed through split in CPN (UML) citing arrogance and monopoly of the party president KP Sharma Oli. Madhav Kumar Nepal has received the Title Honor "Patron of Humanity" award from World Humanitarian Drive(WHD)

## Early life

Madhav Kumar Nepal was born into a Brahmin family to Mangal Kumar and Durgadevi Upadhaya. He graduated in commerce from Tribhuvan University in 1973 and worked in banking and civil service before turning to full-time politics. He has two brothers, Binod Kumar Upadhyaya and Saroj Kumar Upadhyaya and three sisters, Kalika Bhandari, Indira Neupane and Basudha Pokharel.

## Political career
### Early political activism

Nepal joined the communist movement in 1969 (2026 B.S.). During the underground struggle, he used party names such as 'Subodh', 'Sunil', 'Ranjan' and 'Bibek'. In 1971, he became a district committee member of the Nepal Revolutionary Organisation (Marxist-Leninist). At a conference held in Biratnagar June 7–8, 1975, Nepal was elected as a bureau member of the All Nepal Communist Revolutionary Coordination Committee (Marxist-Leninist). When the ANCRCC (ML) founded the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) in 1978, Nepal was elected a politburo member of the new party.

### Multi-party democracy (1991–2006)

He was the Deputy Prime Minister in the CPN (UML) minority government in 1994-1995 as well as the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly during the 1990s. He argued for the Nepal Civil War to be solved through talks and did not believe that mobilization of the army was the solution and as the leader of CPN (UML), was one of the three key Nepali leaders, the other two being prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala and rebel Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', crucial in bringing the Maoists into the peace process and signing the 12 point peace accords that ended the decade long war.
Nepal was arrested in 2001 during a crackdown on anti-government protest. Following the palace massacre he called for Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to step down, though later joined forces with him to launch a campaign against King Gyanendra's assumption of executive powers.

### Transition period

On 12 April 2008, Nepal resigned as General Secretary of the CPN (UML), after having lost the Kathmandu 2 seat to Maoist candidate Jhakku Prasad Subedi in the 2008 Constituent Assembly election. Subedi was a comparatively obscure candidate. Nepal was also defeated in Rautahat-6 constituency by Maoist candidate Devendra Patel. He later won both Kathmandu 2 and Rautahat 1 seats in the Second Constituent Assembly election of 2013. Nepal later chose Rautahat 1. He won the Kathmandu 2 constituency again in the 2017 general election by a margin of 14,000 votes.
In June 2008, the CPN (UML) proposed that Nepal become the country's first President, following the declaration of a republic, though the idea did not materialise after disagreement with the ruling Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).

### Prime Minister of Nepal

He became the 34th Prime Minister of Nepal on 25 May 2009 after his predecessor Prachanda resigned over a conflict with the president over the dismissal of the army's chief of staff.
Nepal himself resigned as prime minister on 30 June 2010 in an effort to help the government move past its deadlock and to pave the way for a national consensus government, as demanded by the opposition.

### Split in Nepal Communist Party and CPN (UML)

Nepal returned to CPN (UML) after the Supreme court decision to dissolve the party merger between CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Centre). Since 18 August 2021, he has been serving as the chairman of the CPN (Unified-Socialist), a new party formed through split in CPN (UML) citing arrogance and monopoly of the party president KP Sharma Oli.

### Major Political offices held

* 1990: Member, Constitution Drafting Commission
* 1991-1999: Member of the National Assembly
* 1991-1994: Leader of Opposition, National Assembly
* 1993-2008: General Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal (UML)
* 1994-1995: Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Minister of Foreign Affairs
* 1999-2002: Member of the House of Representatives from Rautahat-1
* 1999-2002: Leader of the Opposition, House of Representatives
* 2008-2013: Member of the Constituent Assembly from CPN (UML) party list
* 2009-2011: Prime Minister of Nepal
* 2013-2017: Member of the Legislative Parliament from Kathmandu-2
* 2017–2021: Member of the House of Representatives from Kathmandu-2

## Personal life

He is married to Gayatri Acharya. He has a son and a daughter, Saurav and Suman Nepal. There have been widespread rumorous claims that he adopted Christianity as his new faith and has been promoting conversion of Hindus to Christianity. However, he publicly and categorically denied any link with Christianity or having any role in expanding the activity of Christian missionaries in his country.

## Electoral history
### 2022 legislative elections

Nepal contested in 2022 election from Rautahat. He faced Ajay Kumar Gupta of CPN(UML) who previously lost as mayor of Gaur Municipality in the 2022 Nepalese local elections.
Rautahat 1 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes |
| | Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Socialist) | Madhav Kumar Nepal | 33522 |
| | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | Ajay Kumar Gupta | 26922 |
| | Others | Others | 1691 |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | Invalid votes | |
| Result | Result | CPN (US) gain | CPN (US) gain |
| Source: eKantipur.com ||||

### 2017 legislative elections

Kathmandu 2 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes |
| | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | Madhav Kumar Nepal | 27,366 |
| | Nepali Congress | Dipak Prasad Kuikel | 14,903 |
| | Bibeksheel Sajha Party | Surya Raj Acharya | 7,437 |
| | Others | Others | 1,549 |
| Invalid votes | Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 1,790 |
| Result | Result | CPN (UML) gain | CPN (UML) gain |
| Source: Election Commission ||||

### 2013 Constituent Assembly election

Rautahat 1 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes |
| | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | Madhav Kumar Nepal | 8,361 |
| | Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum, Nepal (Democratic) | Ajay Kumar Gupta | 8,023 |
| | Sanghiya Sadbhavana Party | Anil Kumar Jha | 4,234 |
| | UCPN (Maoist) | Raj Kishor Prasad Yadav | 3,642 |
| | Sadbhavana Party | Yogendra Raya Yadav | 1,658 |
| | Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum, Nepal | Baban Singh | 1,481 |
| | Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party | Babu Lal Prasad Sah Kanu | 1,470 |
| | Nepali Congress | Sant Lal Sah Teli | 1,302 |
| | Others | Others | 3,822 |
| Result | Result | CPN (UML) gain | CPN (UML) gain |
| Source: NepalNews ||||
Kathmandu 2 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes |
| | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | Madhav Kumar Nepal | 21,747 |
| | Nepali Congress | Praitma Gautam | 12,479 |
| | UCPN (Maoist) | Lila Mani Pokharel | 7,134 |
| | Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal | Nawa Raj Simkhada | 5,358 |
| | Others | Others | 2,680 |
| Result | Result | CPN (UML) gain | CPN (UML) gain |
| Source: Election Commission ||||

### 2008 Constituent Assembly election

Kathmandu 2 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes |
| | CPN (Maoist) | Jhakku Prasad Subedi | 13,858 |
| | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | Madhav Kumar Nepal | 12,325 |
| | Nepali Congress | Deepak Prasad Kuikel | 11,544 |
| | Rastriya Prajatantra Party | Deepak Meyar Shrestha | 1,570 |
| | Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal | Nawa Raj Simkhada | 1,569 |
| | Others | | 2,212 |
| | Invalid votes | Invalid votes | 1,836 |
| Result | Result | CPN (Maoist) gain | CPN (Maoist) gain |
| Source: Election Commission ||||

### 1999 legislative elections

Rautahat 1 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes |
| | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | Madhav Kumar Nepal | 22,868 |
| | Nepali Congress | Braj Kishor Singh | 10,757 |
| | Independent | Parmananda Sah Teli | 3,157 |
| | CPN (Marxist–Leninist) | Bishwanath Prasad Agrawal | 3,058 |
| | Rastriya Prajatantra Party | Chandrika Prasad Singh | 3,030 |
| | Others | Others | 1,443 |
| Invalid Votes | Invalid Votes | Invalid Votes | 1,306 |
| Result | Result | CPN (UML) gain | CPN (UML) gain |
| Source: Election Commission ||||
Rautahat 4 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes |
| | CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) | Madhav Kumar Nepal | 26,758 |
| | Nepali Congress | Uddhav Dhakal | 19,125 |
| | Nepal Sadbhawana Party | Yugal Kishor Chaudhary | 3,519 |
| | CPN (Marxist–Leninist) | Rajdev Prasad Chaudhary | 2,107 |
| | Others | Others | 486 |
| Invalid Votes | Invalid Votes | Invalid Votes | 2,000 |
| Result | Result | CPN (UML) gain | CPN (UML) gain |
| Source: Election Commission ||||