KATHMANDU, Sept 25: The Nepali Congress is caught in a dispute over its leadership, legal status and 15th general convention. The conflict began when a special convention elected a new committee led by Gagan Kumar Thapa. It moved from the Election Commission to the Supreme Court, which initially upheld the commission’s decision but later allowed a review. With the legal outcome unsettled, rival groups are pressing ahead with convention plans.
The party faces more than a split at the top. The establishment faction has completed ward conventions and begun municipal conventions. Leaders and workers aligned with rival or neutral groups have stayed away. Most ward posts and delegate positions have therefore been filled by consensus, with little of the competition seen in past conventions.
Three camps have emerged around Thapa, former party president Sher Bahadur Deuba and leader Dr Shekhar Koirala. Two have announced separate convention schedules, while Shekhar’s camp has remained neutral. Their competing plans have left local workers unsure which convention to attend and which leadership will ultimately hold authority.
That uncertainty is visible in Biratnagar. At many ward conventions, attendance was thin beyond those seeking posts or delegate positions. Some workers reportedly plan to join the other camp’s convention if they fail to secure a place in the first. Others fear the division could hurt Congress in the coming local and provincial elections.
A dispute over active membership has added to the confusion. Previously, members were enrolled on recommendations from ward or constituency committees. For this convention, applications were also accepted directly at provincial and central levels. Local officials have complained that they do not recognise some people listed as active members.
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Morang Congress president Dig Bahadur Limbu said membership disputes had disrupted conventions in several wards. Using three channels to enrol members instead of one had caused problems, he said. Party leaders have also complained that people who left Congress and became active in other parties remain on its membership rolls.
The convention process began before those questions were settled. Even after the ward conventions, the district lacks a confirmed membership count. Limbu estimated that Morang has about 25,000 existing active members and between 8,000 and 10,000 new ones.
The legal dispute remains unresolved. On April 17, 2026, a Supreme Court division bench upheld the Election Commission’s recognition of the committee led by Thapa. On August 6, the court granted permission to review that ruling. A final decision has yet to come.
For Congress, the stakes go beyond who leads the party. The review raises questions about the authority of the special convention leadership and the status of the 15th convention now under way. Workers choosing delegates today do not yet know how the competing claims will be resolved.
The uncertainty carries particular weight in Biratnagar, a city woven into Congress’s history. Workers at the Biratnagar Jute Mill organised around wages, working conditions and rights in the 1940s. With Girija Prasad Koirala active in organising them, they began a strike at the mill on March 5, 1947. The site is still known as Hadtali Haat, a reminder of that protest.
The workers formed a union and chose Girija Prasad Koirala as its president. BP Koirala and Tarini Prasad Koirala also supported the movement. All three were among the leaders arrested during the struggle. The strike helped spread political opposition to Rana rule, and Biratnagar again became a centre of resistance during the 1950–51 revolution. Workers and members of the Mukti Sena took part in the uprising that led to the establishment of democracy.
Biratnagar later hosted a special Congress convention in 1957 under BP Koirala’s leadership. The city’s ties to BP, Matrika Prasad, Girija Prasad and Tarini Prasad Koirala made it a longstanding base of Koirala family politics. Congress and members of the family went on to play major roles in struggles against Rana and Panchayat rule and in the political process that ended the decade-long armed conflict.
That history makes today’s divisions especially striking. The party is trying to choose a new set of representatives from ward to central level, yet it has not settled who can vote, which convention workers should join or which leadership will emerge with legal authority.
Koirala family pulls in three directions
The disagreement runs through the Koirala family itself. Shekhar Koirala has called for reconciliation and said he will remain neutral during the 15th convention. His supporters have also stayed away from the process. BP Koirala’s son, Dr Shashanka Koirala, is leading the faction outside the establishment, while Girija Prasad Koirala’s daughter, Sujata Koirala, supports the establishment camp.
The family was divided at the 14th convention too. Shashanka and Sujata sided with Deuba’s group, while Shekhar formed his own camp and ran for party president. Before that convention, the three had appeared together wearing a single garland, a public gesture of unity that did not survive the leadership contest.
Now each stands in a different position. As Congress prepares to select its next generation of representatives, its workers are left to navigate a contest whose political and legal outcome remains open.
