Janamat-NUP Merger: Resham to serve as patron, CK as chair, Ranjita as vice chair

KATHMANDU, April 11: Leaders from the Janamat Party and the Nagarik Unmukti Party (NUP) have decided to place Resham Chaudhary at the top of the unified party's hierarchy, with CK Raut in second place. They agreed to list Chaudhary's name first in the party hierarchy while assigning Raut the role of executive chairperson.

The Election Commission, however, recognizes only the executive chairperson as the highest-ranking position and does not officially acknowledge the role of patron. "We will still place Resham Chaudhary at the top of our party's hierarchy. Even though the Election Commission ranks the executive chairperson first, Chaudhary will remain our top leader internally as patron," said Janamat Party spokesperson Sharat Singh Yadav.

Yadav, a member of the Janamat Party's unification task force, said the parties have finalized the unification with Resham Chaudhary as the patron, CK Raut as the executive chairperson, and Ranjita Shrestha as the vice-chairperson. He added that they will officially announce the unification by April 27.

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Rajan Gurung, Deputy General Secretary of the Nagarik Unmukti Party, also confirmed the leadership order in the unified party-Chaudhary first, Raut second, and Shrestha third. "If Resham Chaudhary does not hold the top position, the unification will not proceed. CK Raut has already agreed to place Chaudhary at the top," Gurung said.

Rajan Gurung said that NUP Chairperson Ranjita Shrestha will assume the role of vice-chairperson in the unified party and will rank third in the leadership hierarchy. “We have finalized the name of the unified party as Nagarik Janamat Party, and the election symbol will remain the Dhakiya (a small basket mostly made of bamboo stripes- used in carrying flowers, fruits),” Gurung said.

He added that top leaders and task force members from both parties held a joint meeting in Bardiya last Sunday and agreed to finalize the unification by April 27. To facilitate the merger, NUP formed a task force under the leadership of Ganga Chaudhary, while Janamat formed one led by Abdul Khan.

All members from both task forces attended the meeting. NUP has called a central committee meeting for April 19–20, where it plans to endorse the unification with the Janamat Party.

In the House of Representatives, the Janamat Party holds six seats, including one directly elected lawmaker, while NUP has four members.