In Nepal, a fledgling political outfit gives traditional parties a run for their money Premium

The Rastriya Swatantra Party, founded as an anti-corruption platform last year and surged to become the fourth largest party in the Nepal Parliament, seeks to upend the political status quo in the country

When Swarnim Wagle, an economist and former vice-chairman of Nepal’s National Planning Commission, announced on March 30 that he was quitting the Nepali Congress, it came as a bombshell for many political watchers. Mr. Wagle once declared that he could not imagine being in a party other than the Nepali Congress, with which his three generations had had an allegiance.

Many saw his move as his grudge against the Nepali Congress high command for denying him a ticket to contest the November general elections. He swiftly joined the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), a new political force that was born just five months before the November polls. He contested the by-elections from Tanahun-1, a constituency that had fallen vacant after Ram Chandra Poudel, a Nepali Congress leader who had won the November elections, was elected the new President of Nepal.

ALSO READ | Caught between India, China and the U.S., Nepal PM Prachanda struggles to strike a balance in foreign policy

Though a newbie in politics, Mr. Wagle, who also served as the Chief Economic Adviser at the UNDP Regional Bureau for Asia and Pacific in New York between 2020 and 2022, registered a resounding victory, garnering three times more votes than his closest rival backed by the ruling coalition. While Mr. Wagle did have his expertise to project before the electorate, it was the charm of the RSP that worked more in his favour, say political commentators. The RSP, which had won 21 seats in the 275-member Parliament in November, now has 22 seats and is the fourth largest party.

The way the RSP has emerged in Nepal’s politics is going to give the country’s traditional political parties a run for their money, analysts say. “The RSP certainly has become a force to reckon with,” said Hari Sharma, a political commentator and writer. “Its rise poses a critical question that all is not well in Nepal’s political system. Its emergence has exposed the political contradictions in Nepal.”

Ever since the restoration of democracy in Nepal in 1990, the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), or CPN-UML, have been the major political forces. After the end of the decade-long insurgency in 2006, the Maoists became another powerful player. But over the years, there has been a growing resentment among the general public towards the established parties’ failure to deliver amid a slew of allegations of corruption and irregularities.

“People wanted to vent their frustration out. They chose the RSP,” said Mr. Sharma. “How it can change the Nepali political landscape is yet to be seen, but it has definitely made a forceful entry; a promising start.”