| Sajha Party | |
| Colorcode: |
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| Founder: | Rabindra Mishra |
| Position: | Centre |
| Leader: | Rabindra Mishra |
| Spokesperson: | Sharad Raj Pathak[1] |
| Youth Wing: | Sajha Yuva Sangathan |
| Womens Wing: | Sajha Women Organization |
| Foundation: | 2017–2019 (as Bibeksheel Sajha Party) |
| Dissolved: | 9 December 2019 |
| Successor: | Bibeksheel Sajha Party |
| Ideology: | Social liberalism Social democracy Progressivism |
| Headquarters: | Bakhundol, Lalitpur, Nepal[2] |
| Country: | Nepal |
| Native Name: | साझा पार्टी |
| Seats1: | Bagmati Province |
| Seats1 Title: | Seats in Provincial Assemblies |
The Sajha Party (Nepali: साझा पार्टी) is a political party founded by former editor-in-chief of BBC Nepali Service Rabindra Mishra.[3] [4] [5] [6]
Sajha Party was founded in 2017 by the former editor-in-chief of BBC Nepali Service, Rabindra Mishra.[7] It was formed as an "alternative" party and guided by the welfare economy and inspired by global norms of democracy.[8] The party contested the 2017 local election as independents with Ramesh Maharjan and Kishore Thapa finishing third and fourth in Kathmandu and Lalitpur elections respectively.[9] [10] [11] Deputy mayor candidate Sobha Shakya finished in second place in Lalitpur, and Nirupama Yadav finished third in Kathmandu.[12] The party was not as successful outside the Kathmandu Valley with their candidates in Itahari getting less than 500 votes.[13]
On 26 July 2017 the party announced that it would merge with Bibeksheel Nepali Dal to form Bibeksheel Sajha Party. The new party would be led under the joint leadership of Rabindra Mishra and Ujwal Bahadur Thapa. The party adopted scales as their electoral symbol.[14] [15] [16] [17] The party split on 11 January 2019 when party co-cordinator Ujwal Thapa, along with 16 central committee members filed an application to register his old party, Bibeksheel Nepali Dal at the Election Commission.[18] The party changed its name to Sajha Bibeksheel Party on 27 April 2019 and later reverted to Sajha Party.[19] The party announced on 20 October 2020 that it was in talks with Bibeksheel Nepali Dal for reunification. The two parties announced their merger on 9 December 2020 and formed the Bibeksheel Sajha Party again.[20]