KATHMANDU, March 9: Pressure is mounting within the CPN-UML for party chair KP Sharma Oli to resign following the party’s humiliating defeat in the recent election. Party Deputy General Secretary Yogesh Bhattarai publicly called for Oli’s resignation on Monday through a Facebook post.
Bhattarai said both the party’s policies and leadership must be changed, arguing that voters had clearly rejected them through the election results.
“Through their votes in the election, the people have peacefully rejected our policies and leadership. This is the objective reality today. We must pursue the path of regaining public support through comprehensive transformation within the party,” Bhattarai wrote.
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He said the responsibility for the party’s current situation should be shared by all levels of leadership, including committees and leaders involved in decision-making. However, he emphasized that the central committee and central secretariat, which hold policy and executive authority, must bear the primary burden of both success and failure, adding that ultimate accountability still lies with the top leadership.
Bhattarai also complained that when concerns were raised earlier about the party’s policies being flawed, Oli and the broader party leadership had ignored them. He stressed that the party must now seriously discuss these issues and move forward by changing both its policies and leadership.
“We have only fallen, we have not died. With the right policies, organization, leadership, behavior, and working style, we will rise again and restore the pride of the party, the people, and the nation,” Bhattarai said while presenting his views in a seven-point statement.
The UML suffered a heavy defeat in the latest election. Out of 165 direct seats, the party managed to win only eight constituencies. Its performance in the proportional representation vote also declined sharply, receiving about 1.2 million votes out of 8.8 million counted so far.
