Himal Press 
Pushpa Kamal Dahal
KATHMANDU: Pushpa Kamal Dahal has been elected as the parliamentary party leader of the Nepali Communist Party (NCP).
A meeting of the NCP’s parliamentary party held on Sunday made the decision.
Dahal has been continuously elected the party’s parliamentary party leader since he joined the political mainstream after signing the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA) in 2006. He was first chosen as the parliamentary party leader following the Constituent Assembly election in 2008. After the second Constituent Assembly election in 2013, he was elected to the position for the second time.
Dahal again became the parliamentary party leader after the 2017 polls. Although he stepped down from the role after the then-CPN (Maoist Center) merged with CPN-UML to form Nepal Communist Party (NCP). Then UML Chairperson KP Sharma Oli was elected parliamentary party leader of the merged party.
However, Dahal was again chosen as the parliamentary party leader after the court annulled party unification and reinstated the Maoist Center.
After the 2022 election, Dahal was once again elected parliamentary party leader of his party.
Before the 2026 election, Dahal merged the Maoist Center with CPN (Unified Socialist) and nearly two dozen leftist parties to form the Nepali Communist Party (NCP). Dahal has once again been unanimously selected as the parliamentary party leader.
Under his leadership, the party secured eight seats under the first-past-the-post system and nine seats under the proportional representation system in the 2026 elections.
Dahal has served as Prime Minister three times. He became Prime Minister for the first time after the CA election in 2008. He served as the prime minister in 2016 and 2022 as well.
Likewise, he has also held party leadership for nearly four decades. Dahal became General Secretary of the then CPN (Mashal) in 1989 and has remained in top leadership roles since. In 1993, following the first national conference of the then CPN (Unity Center), the party was renamed CPN (Maoist). Dahal, who was the party general secretary at that time, became its chairperson after the second national conference in 2000, which decided to go for the chairmanship model.
