Prime Minister and Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba has been re-elected in the highest party post. It was a cakewalk for Deuba to get elected in a run-off election held under the party 14th convention on Tuesday after the first round of internal polls became inconclusive. Deuba beat his rival Dr. Shekhar Koirala by a wide margin. Deuba mustered 2,733 votes out of 4,623 cast in the second round. Koirala garnered only 1,855 votes. Though Koirala got 139 more votes, his hope for clinching surprise win has fallen by a wayside, thanks to Deuba’s quick moves to win the support of three other contenders - Prakash Man Singh, Bimalendra Nidhi and Kalyan Gurung. As they announced to back Deuba in the second round, his victory was already sealed. He was short of 82 votes and had to secure over 50 per cent of total votes cast.

With solid victory in the post of presidency for the second consecutive term, Deuba has achieved new milestone in his eventful political career. Inspired by NC founding leader BP Koirala, Deuba joined student movement against the autocratic Panchayat system. He is the first elected president of Nepal Student Union and its founding member. Because of his role in making the NC victorious in the general election in 1991 in the western region, he was awarded the portfolio of Home Ministry in the Cabinet led by late Girija Prasad Koirala. Since then Deuba never looked back. He won parliamentary election in 1992, 1994, 1999 and 2017 from Dadeldhura and Constituent Assembly election from Dadeldhura and Kailali in 2008 and 2013.    

In 1995, Deuba became the Prime Minister for the first time. Similarly, his second innings as the PM was in 2001. In 2002, the then King Gyanendra Shah sacked him. Similarly, he became the Prime Minister in 2004 for the third time. He was again removed from the post in February 2005. But his commitment to democracy, human rights and liberty was never shaken. In July this year, he was appointed PM for the fifth time following the reinstatement of House of Representatives. While leading the governments several times, Deuba took important measures to bolster inclusive democracy. He unveiled the notion of Karnali-Dalit-Women, Indigenous-Madhesh to mainstream women, Dalit, ethnic, Madhesi and other marginalised communities. Different commissions like the National Women’s Commission, the Indigenous Nationalities Commission and the National Dalit Commission were notably formed during his premiership.  

His re-election in the party presidency is widely expected to energise it marred by factional feuds. However, Deuba has now humongous challenges to unite the party and take the other political parties into confidence. He has promised to make party victorious in the elections to all three levels. While seeking support from Singh, he had committed to reforming the party and running it in a more democratic manner. It is only with the robust intra-party democracy that the grand old party can sort out its organisational issues and maintain vision and ideological clarity. A seasoned and mature politician, Deuba, who is now in the driving seat of government for the fifth time, is expected not only to successfully lead the party but also the nation on the path of pandemic recovery, economic recovery, stability and good governance.