Nepal's 1959 Constitution: Mahendra's Brief Experiment with Democracy

In 1959, King Mahendra introduced Nepal's first democratically elected government, only to dissolve it eighteen months later. This episode explores the brief experiment: the constitution that established a parliamentary system, the landslide victory of B.P. Koirala's Nepali Congress, the challenges of land reform and foreign policy, and the tensions between monarchy and democracy. Drawing on the Delhi Accord legacy, we examine how Mahendra's own panchayat system replaced the elected government, ending Nepal's first parliamentary era. Topics include the 1959 election, the Koirala government's reform attempts, the king's gathering of intelligence, and the December 1960 coup.

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