1959 Nepalese legislative election


The Nepalese general election of 1959, held from 18 February to 3 April 1959, to elect the 109 members of the first House of Representatives, the lower house of the Parliament of Nepal. It was conducted under the provisions of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1959, which was adopted on 12 February 1959.
786 candidates competed for 109 seats in the Pratinidhi Sabha. More than 4.25 million people out of an overall population of about 8.55 million were eligible to vote. Voter turnout was 42.18%.
The result was a victory for the Nepali Congress, winning 74 of the 109 seats and 38% of the total votes polled. B. P. Koirala became the first democratically elected and 22nd Prime Minister of Nepal.

Political parties

A total of 9 parties and 268 independents contested for the 109 seats in the election. Nepali Congress contested in 108 constituency area and won in 74 places. The Gorkha Parishad, which had contested in 86 seats, had won a total of 19 seats, while the Nepal Communist Party, which had contested in 47 seats, was limited to only four seats.
Only 4 parties secured the position of National parties as per the then election act of Nepal 1959. The party presidents of eight of the nine parties lost the election. Nepali Congress Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala was the only party president who won the election from constituency No. 32.

Results

Government formation

The speaker of the first Pratinidhi Sabha was Krishna Prasad Bhattarai from Nepali Congress. The Pratinidhi Sabha started from 27 May 1959 and dissolved on 15 December 1960.

Facts