Samyukta Prajatantra Party Nepal (, translation: United Democracy Party Nepal) was a political party in

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. The party was led by

Kunwar Inderjit Singh Kunwar Indrajit Singh (; 1906 – 4 October 1982), popularly known as Dr. K.I. Singh or just K.I. Singh was a Nepali politician and revolutionary who served as the 20th Prime Minister of Nepal in 1957. He was a key member of the Nepali Congr ...

History

In October 1955, after his arrival from China, where he was in hiding after escaping from prison,

announced the formation of the United Democratic Party Nepal. The party was formed as a

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

force that was an alternative to the parties that existed in the country. On 26 July 1957, Dr. K.I. Singh was appointed as the

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

King Mahendra Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev (; 11 June 1920 – 31 January 1972) was King of Nepal from 13 March 1955 until his death in 1972. He led the 1960 Nepal coup d'état, 1960 coup d'état, in which he dismissed the government, jailed other political ...

and told to form a coalition government. He failed to do so as other political parties distrusted him. He was sacked less than four months later by the king after he attempted to reform the palace secretariat. The party contested the first

general elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

in 1959, winning 5 seats to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

. Party founder and chairman, Dr. K.I. Singh did not win his seat in the election. He accused the Nepali Congress-led interim government of interfering in the elections and called for the king to declare the elections invalid. The party formed the United Front with Tanka Prasad Acharya's

Nepal Praja Parishad The Nepal Praja Parishad (Nepali language, Nepali: नेपाल प्रजा परिषद) was the first attempt to form an organization to lead the revolution against the Rana dynasty in Nepal. Led by Tanka Prasad Acharya, the group wa ...

which had won two seats in the elections and the Prajatantrik Mahasabha led by Ranganath Sharma which had been unsuccessful in the elections. The United Front claimed to be the opposition to

Nepali Congress The Nepali Congress ( ; Abbreviation, abbr. NC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a Social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Nepal, political party in Nepal and the largest party in the country ...

-led government and said the opposition in the parliament,

Nepal Rashtrabadi Gorkha Parishad Nepal Rashtrabadi Gorkha Parishad (Nepal Nationalist Gorkha Council), a pro-monarchy political party in Nepal. The party was founded in 1951 by members of the erstwhile Rana dynasty. The party was led by Bharat Shamsher JBR and MG Mrigendra Shamsh ...

was in Dr. K.I. Singh's own word "the same thing as the Congress"Bajracharya, Bhadra Ratha/Sharma, Sita Ram/Bakshi S.R..
Political development in Nepal
'.

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

: Anmol Publications, 1993. p. 113, 116 The United Democratic Party also managed to convince the two parliamentarians from Acharya's Nepal Praja Parishad to join the party. On 15 December 1960,

dissolved the parliament and started his own direct rule, a move that Dr. K.I. Singh supported. All political parties were banned and the party-less Rastriya Panchayat served as the country's legislature.

Electoral history

Leadership

Prime ministers of Nepal

References

{{Political parties in Nepal Political parties established in 1955 Defunct political parties in Nepal 1955 establishments in Nepal Political parties disestablished in 1960