Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist–Leninist) (1998)

This article is about the organisation active from 1998 to 2002. For other organisations with similar names, see Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist–Leninist) (disambiguation).

The Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist–Leninist) is a political party in Nepal and a splinter group from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) formed on March 5, 1998. Sahana Pradhan was the chair of the party and Bam Dev Gautam the general secretary.^[1]

Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist–Leninist) नेपाल कम्युनिष्ट पार्टी (मार्क्सवादी-लेनिनवादी)
General Secretary	Bam Dev Gautam
Founded	5 March 1998
Dissolved	15 February 2002
Split from	Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist)
Merged into	Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist)
Headquarters	Rudranagar Marg-359, Ratopul, Kathmandu, Nepal
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism
Political position	Left-wing
Colours	red
Politics of Nepal Political parties Elections

History

Within the CPN (UML) a power struggle had taken place after the death of Madan Bhandari. Gautam and Pradhan advocated a tactical alliance with the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, which the CPN (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal opposed.^[2] Moreover, the CPN (ML) opposed the Mahakali river treaty with India. The CPN (ML) described the split in the following wordings in the manifesto: "[The] CPN-ML was born as a result of revolt by revolutionary and patriotic force against national capitalist, and liquidationist policies and programmes of the CPN-UML. This was not the revolt for the sake of revolt; it was the revolt to restructure and re-organise the communist movement based on the principles of revolutionary Marxism."^[3]

CPN (ML) won over the majority of the party membership in the Kathmandu Valley and almost half of the parliamentary group of CPN (UML).^{[citation needed]}. From September to December that year, the CPN (ML) took part in the government led by Girija Prasad Koirala.

In the 1999 parliamentary elections, the CPN (ML) got 6.4% of the votes nationwide, but failed to win a single seat. The division of the communists directly contributed to the electoral victory of the Nepali Congress, which had fewer votes than the CPN (ML) and CPN (UML) combined.

In January 2002, the CPN (ML) formed a three-member team to negotiate re-unification with the CPN (UML). The team was headed by R.K. Mainali.^[4] On February 15, 2002, the CPN (ML) reunified with the CPN (UML); however, C. P. Mainali, an important party leader, refused to go along and reconstituted his own CPN (ML).^[5]

Electoral performance

Nepalese legislative elections

Election	Leader	Votes		Seats	Resulting government
		#	%
1999	Bam Dev Gautam	567,987	6.59	0	Nepali Congress

See also

• List of communist parties in Nepal

References

1. "CPN-ML central committee meets". Nepalnews.com. Mercantile Communications Pvt. Ltd. 10 October 2001. Archived from the original on 2 November 2004. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
2. Parajulee, Ramjee P.. The Democratic Transition in Nepal. Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. p. 289
3. "Main Event of the Year : Formation and Dissolution of Political Parties in Nepal". Human Rights Internet. Archived from the original on 20 February 2005. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
4. "ML politburo meets to discuss unity with UML". Nepalnews.com. Mercantile Communications Pvt. Ltd. 29 January 2002. Archived from the original on 10 February 2005. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
5. "UML, ML to merge Friday". Nepalnews.com. Mercantile Communications Pvt. Ltd. 13 February 2002. Archived from the original on 13 March 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2012.