The penultimate Rana ruler of Nepal, Padma Shamsher, who called himself a public servant, gave a speech from his residence on May 16, 1947, one and a half years after he came to power. The speech was broadcast via a newly set up radio station and through loudspeakers arranged at the Tundikhel. In this speech, Padma said, “We will set up elected municipalities and district boards both in the capital and in various districts across the country and hand them over the local rights (sthaniya adhikar). The Reforms Committee shall deliberate and decide on the rights and limits of the local institutions, and also on the revenue that they could generate to sustain themselves” (Gorkhapatra 2004 v.s.a: 1 emphasis in original).

Three weeks after he made this speech, an Istihar (notice) was published in Gorkhapatra (on June 6), which informed that there would be an election on June 11 (i.e., just four days later) to set up the Kathmandu Municipality. The Istihar read, “… we have approved, as a first step, the formation of elected municipalities across the nation. But since it is difficult to manage elections in all places simultaneously, the election is being held, for now, only in Kathmandu” (Gorkhapatra 2004 v.s.b: 1).

The Istihar also announced that there would be 21 wards in the municipality, and a representative would be chosen from each ward. It was the election for men (above age 25) by men (above age 21), i.e., women were disenfranchised in the first-ever election of Nepal (Gorkhapatra 2004 v.s.b: 1). The election was held on the pre-specified date. The government itself nominated the chairman of the municipality and ten other members whereas the vice chairman was one of the elected ward representatives, i.e., Shankar Dev Pant (Gorkhapatra 2004 v.s.c; cf. Sthapit 2019). Although this hastily “elected” municipality performed several activities and laid out various rules and sub-rules pertaining to the management of the city, the organization itself wasn’t very stable. Within a year, 12 ward representatives had to be re-elected.While the hitherto unwritten history of the first election of the local government and its activities are interesting in itself, more intriguing is the hastiness shown in setting up the institution. More alluring is the fact that the election was held without any statutory basis. Furthermore, the “Reforms Committee” formed by the prime minister was already in place, and was drafting a new constitution which was promulgated later that year (January 26, 1948). The Nagar Panchayat Act which should have provided the legal foundation was enacted much later, i.e., in May 1950 (Gorkhapatra 2004 v.s.d). Based primarily on the archive of Gorkhapatra, the state-owned newspaper, and the Municipal magazine, this research paper aims to unpack not only the reasons for this rush in setting up the municipality but also to narrate the history of Nepal’s first local government, its electoral process, and its activities.