Bibeksheel Sajha Party

Bibeksheel Sajha Party
विवेकशील साझा पार्टी
Spokesperson Surya Raj Acharya
Coordinator Ujwal Thapa
Rabindra Mishra
Founder Ujwal Thapa
Rabindra Mishra
Founded 26 July 2017 (2017-07-26)
Merger of Bibeksheel Nepali Dal
Sajha Party
Headquarters Bakhundol, Lalitpur, Nepal
Youth wing Bibeksheel Nepali Social Service Club
Sajha Youth Organization
Women's wing Sajha Women Organization
Bibeksheel Nepali Women Empowerment Club
Ideology Social democracy[1]
Inclusive Democracy [2]
Progressivism
Political position Centre to Centre-left
Election symbol
Website
bibeksheelsajha.org

Bibeksheel Sajha Party (Nepali: विवेकशील साझा पार्टी) is a political party in Nepal. It was founded on 26 July 2017, after the merger of Bibeksheel Nepali Dal and Sajha Party.[3][4][5][6]

History

Background

Bibeksheel Nepali Dal was founded in 2013 with an aim to "change the country’s politics". The founder of the party, Ujwal Bahadur Thapa, ran as an independent in the 2013 Constituent Assembly elections along with four other candidates in different constituencies in the Kathmandu Valley. After the elections, the party registered with the Election Commission of Nepal. It became active in various political causes after the elections. The party was involved in relief distribution after the 2015 Nepal earthquake and protested against the delay by the government in reconstruction on the anniversary of the earthquake.[7][8] The party also protested against controversial commissioner of the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority, Lokman Singh Karki, and also expressed solidarity with corruption crusader Dr. Govinda K.C.[9][10] The party also contested the 2017 local elections, with their mayoral candidate for Kathmandu, 21-year old Ranju Darshana, finishing third with 23,439 votes.[11][12]

Sajha Party was founded in 2017 by the former editor-in-chief of BBC Nepali Service, Rabindra Mishra.[13] It was formed as an "alternative" party and guided by the welfare economy and inspired by global norms of democracy.[14] The party contested the 2017 local election as independents with Ramesh Maharjan and Kishore Thapa finishing third and fourth in Kathmandu and Lalitpur elections respectively.[15][16][17] Deputy mayor candidate Sobha Shakya finished in second place in Lalitpur, and Nirupama Yadav finished third in Kathmandu.[15][18][17] The party was not as successful outside the Kathmandu Valley with their candidates in Itahari getting less than 500 votes.[19]

Foundation

The two parties announced their merger on 26 July 2017, with the party to be led under the joint leadership of Rabindra Mishra and Ujwal Bahadur Thapa. The party adopted scales as their electoral symbol.[3][4][5][6] In the 2017 legislative elections, the party contested 60 seats but won none.[20] Party founder and leader Rabindra Mishra lost in Kathmandu to Nepali Congress leader Prakash Man Singh by a margin of just 818 votes.[21] The party won 212,336 votes under proportional representation and finished with the sixth highest number of votes in the country. They were unable to cross the three percent threshold to gain seats in the House of Representatives.[22] The party also did not win any seats in the 2017 provincial election under first past the post but won three seats to the Provincial Assembly of Province No. 3 under proportional representation after finishing with the fourth highest number of votes with 124,442 votes.[23] The party decided to support Nepali Congress candidate Radhe Shyam Adhikari in the National Assembly elections on 6 February 2018.[24] Bibeksheel Sajha Party, along with Naya Shakti Party, abstained from voting in the 2018 presidential and vice-presidential elections.[25]

Electoral performance

Nepalese Legislative Elections

Election Leader(s) Votes Seats Position Resulting government
# % # +/-
2017 Rabindra Mishra
Ujwal Bahadur Thapa		 212,366 2.22
0 / 275
 6th CPN (UML)–CPN (Maoist Centre)

Presence in various provinces

Province Seats Year of election
Province No. 3
3 / 110
 2017

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mishra, Rabindra. "BSP's express mission is to turn Nepal into welfare state: Mishra".
  2. ↑ Mandal, Chandan Kumar. "Sajha and Bibeksheel to unite, announcment today". Ekantipur. Kantipur Publications. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Rabindra Mishra asks EC to secure Sajha Party's name, election symbol". The Himalayan Times. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Mishra quits BBC to form 'Sajha Party'". The Kathmandu Post. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  5. 1 2 "Journalist Mishra registers Sajha Party". Republica. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Rabindra Mishra's brainchild is born: Sajha Party proposes Balance as its election symbol". Onlinekhabar. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  7. ↑ "Political party Bibeksheel Nepali reached more than 6,000 households". ekantipur.com.
  8. ↑ "Bibeksheel Nepali protests against govt - The Himalayan Times". thehimalayantimes.com. 25 April 2016.
  9. ↑ "Bibeksheel demonstrates against CIAA chief". myrepublica.com.
  10. ↑ "Solidarity rally in support of Dr. KC today". myrepublica.com.
  11. ↑ "21-year-old woman files candidacy for youngest kathmandu mayor - Xinhua | English.news.cn". www.xinhuanet.com. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  12. ↑ "Victory in defeat". Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  13. ↑ "Rabindra Mishra asks EC to secure name and symbol of Sajha Party". The Himalayan Times. 2017-03-01. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  14. ↑ "Mishra quits BBC to form 'Sajha Party'". Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  15. 1 2 "Sajha Party fields mayor, deputy mayor candidates in Lalitpur". The Himalayan Times. 2017-04-29. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  16. ↑ "Ex-Secy Kishore Thapa fielded as Sajha's independent candidate for Kathmandu mayor". The Himalayan Times. 2017-04-14. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  17. 1 2 "CPN-UML's Bidya Sundar Shakya elected Kathmandu Metro City mayor". Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  18. ↑ "NC wins mayor, deputy mayor in Lalitpur metro". Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  19. ↑ "Sajha Party loses luster in Itahari Sub-metropolis; gets only 181 votes". My Republica. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  20. ↑ "Bibeksheel Sajha contesting for 60 seats, with focus on Valley". Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  21. ↑ "With Mishra's defeat, Bibeksheel Sajha loses hope for direct win". Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  22. ↑ "Only five parties crossed the threshold margin in PR votes - People's Review". People's Review. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  23. ↑ "EC announces PR seats for Provincial Assembly". My Republica. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  24. ↑ "BSP, NSP-N to support NC candidate". The Himalayan Times. 2018-01-25. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  25. ↑ "Bibeksheel Sajha, Naya Shakti abstained from presidential poll". My Republica. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
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