Ranjita Shrestha has retained her position as the chairperson of the Nagarik Unmukti Party (NUP).
The NUP’s recent national gathering held in Kathmandu had elected Lalbir Chaudhary as the party’s chairperson on July 31 and submitted an application to the Election Commission to update the records, the Election Commission has upheld Shrestha as the chairperson.
Election Commission spokesperson Nita Pokharel Aryal said that the commission has decided to retain Ranjita Shrestha as the NUP chairperson. The commission made this decision on the basis of the Political Parties Act and the party's statute.
When the NUP was registered, Lalbir Chaudhary's name was not included in the 21-member central committee. He joined the NUP only after winning the House of Representatives election in Bardiya as an independent candidate in November 2022.
Lalbir is the father of NUP’s patron Resham Chaudhary, while Ranjita is Resham's wife. Resham had removed his wife from the chairperson's post and replaced her with his father, but the Election Commission did not recognize the change.
Although the NUP held its first general convention in 2023 and appointed Resham as the chairperson, the Election Commission did not recognize the decision and instead retained Ranjita as the chairperson.
