Maheshwar Jung Gahatraj (alt. forename: Maheshwor; alt. middle name:Jang, Janga; nickname:Athak) (born August 28, 1971) is a Nepali communist politician and a former member of the House of Representatives of the federal parliament of Nepal. He also previously served as the Minister for Youth and Sports between 8 October 2021 to 26 December 2022. He was the commander of the first attack carried out by the

Maoists Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Chi ...

, that began the Nepalese civil war.

Political career

Gahatraj was a member of CPN (Masal) until 1987. He joined the Maoist party, and during the civil war, was the party "In-Charge" for Rukum, Banke,

Bardiya Bardiya or Smerdis ( peo, 𐎲𐎼𐎮𐎡𐎹 ; grc, Σμέρδις ; possibly died 522 BC), also named as Tanyoxarces ( grc, Τανυοξάρκης ) by Ctesias, was a son of Cyrus the Great and the younger brother of Cambyses II, both ...

Surkhet Surkhet District ( ne, सुर्खेत जिल्ला, ) is a district in Karnali Province of mid-western Nepal. Surkhet is the one of the ten districts of Karnali located about west of the national capital Kathmandu. The district's are ...

Humla Humla District ( ne, हुम्ला जिल्ला), a part of Karnali Province, is one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal. The district, with Simikot as its district headquarters, covers an area of and has population of 50,858 as ...

, Kalikot, Jumla and Mugu districts. At the commencement of the maoist insurgency in Nepal in 1996, he was the commander of the first attack against Nepali government, carried out on the police post in Radijyula, Aathbiskot of

Rukum Rukum District ( ne, रुकुम जिल्ला) was a "hill" and "mountain" district some west of Kathmandu partially belonging to Lumbini Province and partially to Karnali Province before split into two districts Western Rukum and E ...

. As of 2013, he was the central committee member of the Maoist party, having been in the role since 2003. After the maoists joined the peace process, he focused his political activities from

Banke District Banke District ( ne, बाँके जिल्ला , a part of Lumbini Province, is one of the 77 districts of Nepal. The district, located in midwestern Nepal with Nepalganj as its district headquarters, covers an area of and had a populat ...

, and was the candidate for the party from Banke-1 constituency in 2013 constituent assembly elections. In the 2017 legislative election, he was elected to parliament under the

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

representing

CPN (Maoist Centre) The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) (), abbreviated CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN-Maoist Centre, CPN Maoist Centre, or CPN (MC), is the third largest political party in Nepal. It was founded in 1994 after breaking away from the Communist P ...

of the left alliance in Banke-1 constituency. He defeated his nearest rival, Madhav Ram Khatri of Nepali Congress, acquiring 31,173 votes to Khatri's 28,217. Following the merger of CPN (Maoist Centre) with CPN UML to form

Nepal Communist Party (NCP) The Nepal Communist Party, abbreviated NCP ( ne, नेपाल कम्युनिष्ट पार्टी, ) is a defunct communist party of Nepal. It was founded on 17 May 2018, from the unification of two leftist parties, Communist ...

, he represents the new party in parliament. He was also elected "Co-Incharge" of the party for

References

{{Nepal-politician-stub Living people 1971 births Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) politicians Nepal Communist Party (NCP) politicians Nepal MPs 2017–2022 People of the Nepalese Civil War Government ministers of Nepal