Nepal's Interim Govt Led By Sushila Karki On Path To Mar 5 Election, Ousted Oli To Contest
Doubts related to the timely election have almost disappeared after key political players, not least KP Sharma Oli, officially decided to fight the polls.
Published : January 10, 2026 at 12:45 PM IST
Kathmandu: Despite pressures from various 'Gen Z' leaders, Nepal's interim Prime Minister Sushila Karki is on the path to carrying out parliamentary elections in March as well as working to ensure that her government remains neutral as mandated by September's mass protests.
Karki has lately remained busy reaching out to key political players, including former prime ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda, Sher Bahadur Deuba and KP Sharma Oli, seeking to create a smooth environment for the March 5 elections.
As election preparations continue, she has made it clear in a cabinet meeting on January 6 that all party-affiliated ministers planning to contest the polls should quit the government and help boost her government's image as a neutral and citizen-led one, as it was formed a few days after the September 'Gen Z' revolt toppled the Oli government.
On January 7, honouring Karki's appeal, Energy Minister Kulman Ghising, who also helmed two other ministries, announced his resignation. Ghising, a former head of Nepal's power utility, is widely admired in Nepal for his role in ending "load-shedding" in the country a few years ago.
Of late, he had remained busy forming his political outfit, Ujyaalo Nepal Party, which later merged with the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), a 2022-born party led by former television presenter Rabi Lamichhane and now backed by Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah as well.
But two other ministers in her cabinet - Information and Communication Minister Jagadish Kharel and Sports and Culture Minister Bablu Gupta - have yet to quit. Although the two are widely perceived to be keen on contesting elections and keeping their political ambitions open, they have defended their position as neutral and fit to carry out ministerial duties.
Internal Security Challenges
During recent meetings with Prime Minister Karki, several political leaders have voiced their concerns over possible security challenges stemming from the thousands of inmates who fled jails across Nepal during the September protests and looting of hundreds of arms from security personnel. Home Minister Om Prakash Aryal has attempted to allay such fears, saying a majority of the inmates have returned and the arms have been recovered.
That issue was high on the agenda during a one-on-one meeting between Karki and former prime minister Oli on January 8. The meeting was a sort of landmark development in itself, given it was the first such meeting between the two leaders after Oli was ousted on September 9. The discussion centred on improving the overall environment in the run-up to the March 5 election, according to Ram Rawal, an aide to Karki.
Oli To Fight Election
That Oli, freshly re-elected chair of the CPN-UML, officially decided to join the electoral fray just a few days ago has come as a big relief for the Karki-led government. Reason? Until a few weeks ago, the party was stubbornly pitching for the restoration of the House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, which was dissolved after the 'Gen Z' revolt. The UML’s immediate-past coalition partner, the Nepali Congress, too, had backed the demand.
Oli’s U-turn followed the government’s recent decision to lift a travel ban imposed on him following his ouster in September. Oli, just like his former cabinet colleague Ramesh Lekhak, has now become free to travel after the two responded to queries put forth by a high-level commission formed to investigate their roles in quelling Gen Z protests that led to the death of nearly 80 Nepalis. Properties worth around NPR 84 billion were destroyed in arson attacks that followed.
"With Oli agreeing to fight the election, the stage looks all set for the election," says Hari Roka, a political analyst. "Things look quite promising now. My only fear is this: if one or two groups of anarchists return to the streets and start creating trouble, then the environment might be spoiled and the election could get postponed."
As far as Karki is concerned, she says the government is fully committed to a timely election. It has successfully demonstrated - more than once - that it can handle smaller groups seemingly all set to potentially create trouble. In the weeks following the government formation, it brought several scattered Gen Z groups to the negotiating table and convinced them to follow the path shown by the 2015 Constitution of Nepal.
Just two weeks ago, ministers and advisors in Karki’s team handled another campaign group led by controversial businessman Durga Prasain, which had been threatening an indefinite strike a few weeks earlier. His group has been stubbornly demanding referendums to decide the fate of the monarchy and the Hindu state, both already confined to history by the first constituent assembly elected in May 2008, which turned Nepal into a secular republic.
Inviting them to the negotiating table, the officials urged Prasain to "fight election, secure a two-thirds majority and decide accordingly". Thereafter, the group stayed quiet. Now with all key political parties and players gearing up to fight the election, Nepal appears firmly on the path to the March 5 general election.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of ETV Bharat)
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