Nepali Congress formation, 1946–1950 The Nepali Congress Party was formed by the merger of Nepali National Congress and Nepal Democratic Congress. The Nepali National Congress was founded by
BP Koirala in
Calcutta,
India on 25 January 1947. The Nepal Democratic Congress was founded by
Subarna Shamsher Rana in Calcutta on 4 August 1948. While returning from treatment from Mumbai, National Congress president B.P. Koirala met
Surya Prasad Upadhyaya in Calcutta. Koirala also later met Subarna to propose a unification between their two parties. The two parties merged on 10 April 1950 to form the Nepali Congress. The unification was held at a movie theatre owned by Mahabir Shamsher Rana.
Matrika Prasad Koirala became the first president of the unified party and Mahendra Bikram Shah was appointed as the general secretary. The party also called for an armed revolution against the
Rana regime. During the Bairgania Conference in
Bairgania,
Bihar, on 27 September 1950 the Nepali Congress announced an armed revolution against the
Rana regime. The president of the party also announced the liquidation of operations in India and declared that the party would operate only inside Nepal. The liberation army was able to control most of the eastern hills of Nepal and the town of
Tansen in
Palpa. After pressure by the
Indian government and the mass movement by the Nepali Congress and other political parties, the
Rana government finally submitted to their demands and King Tribhuvan returned to the throne, replacing
King Gyanendra, who had been crowned king after King Tribhuvan left for India.
Transitional government, 1951–1959 After the fall of the Rana government, the party joined a
government under
Mohan SJB Rana with
B.P. Koirala,
Subarna Shamsher Rana,
Ganesh Man Singh,
Bhadrakali Mishra and Bharat Mani Sharma serving as ministers. The Rana–Congress government was dissolved after ten months.
Matrika Prasdad Koirala was appointed as prime minister in November 1951 becoming the first commoner to assume the role. The party held its fifth general convention in
Janakpurdham in May 1952. B.P. Koirala was elected as party president, and Dhanman Singh Pariyar and Rajeshwar Prasad Upadhyaya were elected as general secretaries.
Krishna Prasad Bhattarai from the party was also elected as the first speaker of the parliament. In May 1960, the party held its sevent general convetion. B.P. Koirala was again elected as party president, deafeating his challenger Bhudev Rai. Shreebhadra Sharma and Tripurbarsingh Pradhan were elected as sgeneral secretaries. During the
1994 general election, the Nepali Congress lost its majority to
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist). The CPN (UML) lacked a majority and formed a minority government. After 46 parliamentarians from the CPN (UML) quit to form the
Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist–Leninist), the Nepali Congress formed their own government with the
Rastriya Prajatantra Party and
Nepal Sadbhawana Party. After CPN (UML) offered
Lokendra Bahadur Chand the position of prime minister, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party led a government with the CPN (UML). Internal problems within the Rastriya Prajatantra Party caused one faction led by
Surya Bahadur Thapa to lead a government with Nepali Congress and Nepal Sadbhawana Party. following a decision by the Election Commission that the Koirala faction held ownership of the name
Nepali Congress, taking 37 central committee members and 40 of the party's lower house representatives with him.
Girija Prasad Koirala remained president of the newly unified party. The party placed second with 110 out of 575 elected seats in the
Constituent Assembly election, winning only half as many seats as CPN-M. , former party president and
Prime Minister of Nepal, also known father of constitution After the
Constituent Assembly of Nepal was dissolved by Prime Minister
Baburam Bhattarai after failure to draft a new constitution before the deadline. In the resulting
2013 Constituent Assembly election, the party emerged as the largest party winning 196 of the 575 elected seats. Along with CPN (UML), under the leadership of
Sushil Koirala, they formed a new coalition government. The new
Constitution of Nepal was promulgated under his leadership on 20 September 2015.
Federal Nepal, 2015–2025 Sushil Koirala resigned as prime minister on 10 October 2015 after losing support from CPN (UML). Nepali Congress joined the government again in August 2016 under the leadership of
Bimalendra Nidhi, after backing
Pushpa Kamal Dahal to become prime minister. According to their agreement, Dahal resigned on 24 May 2017 paving the way for Deuba to become prime minister for a fourth time on 6 June 2017. Nepali Congress won 11,456 seats including 266 mayoral or chairman positions. The party also won mayor posts in
Lalitpur and
Biratnagar. Ahead of the
2017 general and
provincial elections,
Nepal Loktantrik Forum led by former Nepali Congress leader,
Bijay Kumar Gachhadar merged into the party. Similarly, a group from
Federal Socialist Forum, Nepal led by MP
Abhishek Pratap Shah, a group from
CPN (UML) led by MP
Mohar Singh Rathore and Rabin Chaudhary, a goroup from
Rastriya Janata Party Nepal led by MP Jangi Lal Ray, a group from
CPN (Maoist Centre) led by former Minister and MP Sambhu Lal Shrestha joined the party ahead of the
2017 election.
2018–2022: 1st Federal Parliament The party won 63 seats to the
House of Representatives becoming the second largest party. The party could win only 23 seats under first past the post and many influential leaders including
Ram Chandra Poudel,
Ram Saran Mahat,
Bimalendra Nidhi, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, and
Arjun Narasingha K.C. lost in their constituencies. The party won 113 seats in
provincial assemblies and became the largest opposition in
six out of seven provinces. Following the
2018 National Assembly election, Deuba resigned as prime minister. Deuba was challenged for the leadership of the parliamentary party by
Prakash Man Singh following a disappointing performance in the electionb but defeated his opponent 44–19. Nepali Congress remained as the main opposition party until a split in the ruling
Nepal Communist Party in 2021. The split occurred following an attempt to dissolve the
House of Representatives. The party opposed the move and the decision was scrapped by the
Supreme Court. Another attempt to dissolve the House of Representatives was quashed again by the Supreme Court and Nepali Congress president
Sher Bahadur Deuba was appointed prime minister with the support of
CPN (Maoist Centre) and
CPN (Unified Socialist). The party also joined the provincial governments of
Karnali,
Province 2,
Gandaki and
Lumbini. The party headed governments in Gandaki and Karnali during this time. The party held its
14th general convention from 13 to 15 December 2021. The party announced an active membership of 850,000 members and
Sher Bahadur Deuba was re-elected as party president in the second round. The party elected
Purna Bahadur Khadka and
Dhanraj Gurung vice-presidents of the party, while
Gagan Thapa and
Bishwa Prakash Sharma were elected as general secretaries.
2022–2025: 2nd Federal Parliament The party contested the 2022 elections with an alliance with their coalition partners
CPN (Maoist Centre),
CPN (Unified Socialist) and other smaller leftist parties. In the
2022 local elections, the party won executive head positions in 329 local units including in the metropolitan cities of
Lalitpur and
Biratnagar. In the
general elections that followed, the party won a plurality of seats in the House of Representatives and in provincial assemblies of
Bagmati,
Gandaki,
Karnali and
Sudurpaschim. The resulting government saw Congress in the opposition again following a breakdown in the alliance. Another alliance change saw Congress joining the coalition government of
CPN (Maoist Centre) in March 2023 before again joining the opposition bench in March 2024. The party forged a deal with
CPN (UML) on July 2024 to form a new coalition government under CPN (UML). The coalition government introduced a mandate to shut down social media for failing to register with the government which served as the trigger for the
2025 Gen Z protests. Following the death of 19 protestors as a result of the use of live ammunition, home minister
Ramesh Lekhak from the party resigned, other ministers also resigned the next morning, but protestors vandalized the party headquarters and other local offices of the party across the country. Party president
Sher Bahadur Deuba was assaulted at his residence along with his wife and foreign minister
Arzu Rana Deuba. The houses of other leaders of the party were also vandalized and set ablaze. The government also resigned following the protests. == Ideology ==