Navina Lama Says She Feels Orphaned Again After CPN-UML Defeat

Former central committee member Navina Lama has said she feels “orphaned again” after losing her bid for re-election to the central committee of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) at the party’s 11th General Convention.

In a Facebook post following the results, Lama congratulated the newly elected office-bearers and central committee members but described her own defeat as a deeply painful personal experience.

Lama wrote that she attended the 11th General Convention while still grieving the death of her father, who passed away four months earlier. She said the election outcome revived the same sense of loneliness and emotional vulnerability she felt after his death.

“I participated in the 11th General Convention carrying a sense of being orphaned inside me, just four months after my father’s passing. Today, once again, that same deep feeling has resurfaced in my heart,” she wrote.

Lama said she made sincere efforts until the final moment to remain within the team led by party chair KP Sharma Oli, adding that she had strong trust in his leadership. Reflecting on her political career, Lama said she entered politics through the UML-affiliated student wing while studying in grade six.

She went on to hold multiple roles, including Kavre district committee member, central committee and secretariat member of the student organization, Free Students’ Union secretary and chairperson, and later vice-chair, general secretary, and chair of the All Nepal National Free Students’ Union (ANNFSU).

She also served as a party central committee member and as a proportional representation lawmaker. “This entire political journey was connected to the leadership and team of my comrades,” she wrote.

Lama said being excluded from the leadership team during the critical phase of party formation was an extremely painful reality for her. She said she believes her views expressed during internal meetings—particularly on party restructuring and on the issue of party membership of former President Bidhya Devi Bhandari—may have contributed to her exclusion.

Lama contested under the women’s open category and secured 1,579 votes, losing by a margin of 20 votes. She also noted that this marked the first electoral defeat of her political career, having never previously lost an internal party election.