Kathmandu, October 29
The Nepali Congress is preparing to launch a month-long nationwide outreach campaign in Mangsir to understand why millions of voters have turned away from the party and rebuild public trust ahead of the next local elections.
The party received 2,715,225 proportional representation votes in the 2022 House of Representatives election. In the election held on March 5, however, its vote count fell to 1,759,172, a decline of 956,053 votes.
For the Nepali Congress, the loss represents more than a change in electoral numbers. It has raised questions about why voters who once supported the party have become disillusioned and what the party must do to regain their confidence.
Party president Gagan Kumar Thapa outlined the campaign’s broad objectives during a visit to Syangja on October 26. He said the party wanted to reconnect with voters who had drifted away and take the message of change following its general convention to households across the country.
Thapa believes the party’s longstanding organisational networks, political relationships and connections with families remain important assets. The campaign, he said, would focus on understanding why families that once supported the Nepali Congress had distanced themselves, listening to their grievances and addressing the reasons behind the breakdown in relations.
“Let us make Mangsir a month of renewed awareness. We are preparing a programme through a meeting of the Central Working Committee,” Thapa said in Syangja. “Let us go back among our colleagues and reconnect. There are many families that worked hard for democracy in the past. Let us visit them, talk to them, engage in dialogue and rebuild those connections.”
General Secretary Pradeep Paudel told Onlinekhabar that the campaign would also seek to identify why the party had failed to secure the roughly one million votes it had expected.
“From the outside, a campaign may look like a door-to-door programme or an effort to reach the public,” Paudel said. “But one of our internal objectives is to find out why the Nepali Congress failed to secure the expected one million votes in the election. We want to reach those voters and understand their mindset.”
According to Paudel, the party intends to identify why former supporters stopped voting for the Nepali Congress, understand their dissatisfaction and determine what steps could restore their trust.
The party hopes the campaign will help increase its vote share in the upcoming local elections.
“Our expectation is that the campaign will help increase the Nepali Congress vote in the next election,” Paudel said.
Party structures to be mobilised nationwide
The campaign will be formally launched following a decision by the newly elected Central Working Committee after its members assume office. The party plans to mobilise its organisational structures from the central level down to ward committees.
Paudel said representatives from the Central Working Committee would also be deployed to coordinate activities across the country.
“We will mobilise all levels of the organisation during the campaign,” he said. “Representatives from the Central Working Committee will also be assigned to coordinate the effort.”
The Nepali Congress plans to incorporate its remaining district and provincial conventions into the month-long campaign. The dates for these conventions will be decided after discussion at a Central Working Committee meeting, with the party aiming to complete them within Mangsir.
Thapa has also called on party leaders and workers to carry the message of change following the 15th general convention to households whose members once supported the Nepali Congress but no longer do so.
“We have resolved to build a party that remains true to the vision of its founding leaders while understanding the challenges of the present time,” Thapa said in Syangja. “Now you must take this message to the homes of families whose members were once with us but are no longer with us.”
After focusing on organisational strengthening and restoring public confidence in Mangsir, the Nepali Congress plans to step up election-oriented activities in Poush and Magh.
Paudel said the party would activate its organisational structures to support candidates in the next elections.
“All the organisational structures of the Nepali Congress are designed to serve electoral purposes. They are built to help our candidates win elections,” he said. “Through our election-focused campaign, we will make these structures active and mobilise them.”
Meanwhile, the swearing-in ceremony for office-bearers and members elected to the Central Working Committee at the party’s 15th general convention is scheduled for Thursday at 2 pm at the party’s central office, according to Raju Katuwal, secretary of the Election Committee.
