The Rastriya Janashakti Party (RJP) led by former prime minister Surya Bahadur Thapa has decided to omit constitutional monarchy from its statute and documents.

The meeting of the central working committee of the RJP has made the decision to orient RJP as neutral towards monarchy in the run up to the elections for the Constituent Assembly (CA).

The RJP’s central working committee made this decision ahead of its preparations to register the party at the Election Commission (EC) on Sunday.

The RJP, which was known as a pro-monarchy party, has become the first party led by former Panchas to opt for neutrality vis-à-vis monarchy. Although it has not stated that it opts for republic, the party has said it wants to move ahead in line with the May 18 Declaration of House of Representatives.

According to party spokesperson Sarbendra Nath Shukla, the party will take part in the CA elections by carrying agendas passed by its national convention, and will abide by the decision of the CA.

The party has said that it stands for people’s supremacy, guarantee of human rights, rule of law and independent judiciary.

With the latest move by the RJP to omit constitutional monarchy from its statute, the beleaguered monarchy could lose further ground as analysts expect the RJP decision could also step up pressure on other centrist parties like Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) to follow the suit.