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1959 Nepalese general election

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Field	Value
election_name	1959 Nepalese general election
country	Kingdom of Nepal
flag_year	1961
type	parliamentary
ongoing	no
next_election	1971 Nepalese general election
next_year	1971
election_date	18 February–3 April 1959
seats_for_election	All 109 seats in the House of Representatives
55 seats needed for a majority
registered	4,246,368
turnout	1,791,381
image1	BP Koirala.jpg
leader1	B. P. Koirala
party1	Nepali Congress
leaders_seat1	No. 32 (Won)
seats1	74
popular_vote1	666,898
percentage1	37.2%
image2	3x4.svg
leader2
leaders_seat2	No. 26 (Lost)
party2	Nepal Rashtrabadi Gorkha Parishad
seats2	19
popular_vote2	305,118
percentage2	17.1%
title	Prime Minister
posttitle	Prime Minister after election
before_election	Subarna Shamsher Rana
before_party	Nepali Congress
after_election	B. P. Koirala
after_party	Nepali Congress

55 seats needed for a majority

General elections were held in Nepal from 18 February to 3 April 1959 to elect the 109 members of the first House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament of Nepal. They were held under the provisions of the 1959 constitution, which had been adopted on 12 February. More than 4.25 million people out of an overall population of about 8.55 million (1954) were eligible to vote. Voter turnout was 42.18%.

The result was a victory for the Nepali Congress, winning 74 of the 109 seats with 38% of the vote. B. P. Koirala became the first democratically elected and 22nd Prime Minister of Nepal.

Campaign

786 candidates competed for 109 seats in the House of Representatives; 268 ran as independents, with the others representing nine parties. The Nepali Congress contested 108 constituencies, the Gorkha Parishad contested in 86 seats and the Communist Party of Nepal contested 47 seat.

According to former CIA officer Duane Clarridge, U.S. intelligence officials discussed providing limited covert support to B. P. Koirala and the Nepali Congress during the 1959 election in order to "promote political stability and support the development of democratic institutions in Nepal".

Results

Only four parties secured the designation of 'National party' in accordance with the Election Act of Nepal 1959. The party presidents of eight of the nine parties failed to win a seat, with Nepali Congress Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala the only party president to be elected, winning in constituency No. 32 (Morang South Biratnagar West). Nepali Congress leader Subarna Shamsher Rana contested three constituencies (No. 52 (Bara Parsa, Central North), constituency No. 53 (Bara, East Parsa) and constituency No. 91 (Gulmi, South-West)) and won them all. Another Nepal Congress leader Surya Prasad Upadhyaya contested two constituencies (constituency No. 5 (Kathmandu Valley) and constituency No. 14 (Ramechhap, South)) but was defeated in both.

Gorkha Parishad president Randhir Subba was defeated in constituency No. 26 Dhankuta. Tarai Congress president Vedananda Jha lost in constituency No. 39 Siraha. Communist Party of Nepal General Secretary Keshar Jung Rayamajhi was defeated in Palpa Constituency No. 93. Democratic General Assembly president Ranganath Sharma was also defeated in Kathmandu Constituency No. 5. Dilli Raman Regmi of the Nepali National Congress and Bhadrakali Mishra of Nepal Praja Parishad (Mishra) were also defeated. Tanka Prasad Acharya was defeated in from Kathmandu Constituency No. 5.

Aftermath

The speaker of the first House of Representatives was Krishna Prasad Bhattarai from Nepali Congress. The term of the parliament started from 27 May 1959 and it was dissolved on 15 December 1960.

References

(1966). "Democratic Innovations in Nepal: A Case Study of Political Acculturation". University of California Press.
Devkota, Grishma Bahadur. (1976). "Nepalko Rajnitik Darpan II". Bhattarai Bandhu Prakashan.
(2017-12-01). "केवल एक पार्टी प्रमुखले जितेका थिए पहिलो आमनिर्वाचन".
Kafle, Chandra. "४५ दिन लगाएर गरिएको २०१५ सालको चुनाव".
[[Dieter Nohlen]], Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I'', p629 {{ISBN. 0-19-924958-X
Nohlen ''et al.'', p624
Rama Devi Pant. (1959-04-04). "First general election of Nepal 1959". The economic weekly.
Parajulee, Ramjee P.. (2000). "The democratic transition in Nepal". Rowman & Littlefield.
Nohlen et al., p654
"Timeline". constitutionnet.org.
Clarridge, Duane R.. (2002). "A Spy for All Seasons: My Life in the CIA". Scribner.
Levin, Dov H.. (2016-09-19). "Partisan electoral interventions by the great powers: Introducing the PEIG Dataset". Conflict Management and Peace Science.
Nepal, Jagat. "Pāhilo Sāmsād : BP-Mahendra Takraaw". Sangrila Books.
"'चक्रव्यूह'मा सभामुख, किन हुन्छ काण्डैकाण्ड ?".

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