National Assembly (Nepal)

The National Assembly or Rastriya Sabha (Nepali: राष्ट्रिय सभा; Rāṣṭriya sabhā) is the upper house of the Federal Parliament of Nepal, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Assembly are established by Part 8 and 9 of the Constitution of Nepal. There are a total of 59 members: 8 members are elected from each of the seven provinces by an electoral college of each province, and three are appointed by the President on recommendation of the government.[1]

Rastriya Sabha

राष्ट्रिय सभा
Contiguous:
2nd Class 1, Class 2, 1st Class 3
Type
Type
Leadership
Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, CPN (UML)
since 15 March 2018
Vice Chairperson
Urmila Aryal, CPN (MC)
since 6 February 2023
Leader of the House
Narayan Kaji Shrestha, CPN (MC)
since 26 December 2022
Leader of the Opposition
Devendra Dahal, CPN (UML)
since 27 February 2023
Structure
Seats59
Political groups
Government (38)
  •   CPN (MC) (16)[lower-alpha 1]
  •   NC (10)
  •   CPN (US) (8)
  •   PSPN (3)
  •   LSPN (1)

Confidence & supply (3)

Opposition (18)

Length of term
6 years
Elections
56 members by indirect single transferable vote, 3 appointed by the President
Last election
26 January 2022 (Class 2)
Next election
2024 (Class 3); 2026 (Class 1); 2028 (Class 2)
Meeting place
International Convention Centre,
Kathmandu, Nepal
Website
na.parliament.gov.np/np
Politics of Nepal
Constitution
Government

Executive:

Federal Parliament:

Judiciary:
Elections
Federalism
Administrative divisions
Foreign relations
Related topics
flag Nepal portal

Members serve staggered six year terms such that the term of one-third members expires every two years.

History

The National Assembly was first provisioned by the "Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990", which replaced the old panchayat system of parliament with a bicameral parliament.[2] The National Assembly under the 1990 Constitution was dissolved on 15 January 2007 and replaced by a unicameral Interim Legislature. Following two Constituent Assembly elections which also served as a unitary Legislature Parliament, the constitution, promulgated on 20 September 2015, provisioned for a National Assembly as the upper house of the federal parliament.[3]

Maha Sabha

Mahasabha (Nepali: महासभा) was the upper house of the bicameral parliament of the Kingdom of Nepal during 1959 - 1962.[4]

The Revolution of 1951 made the process to enact a new constitution, which was able to transfer all executive powers back to the Shah kings from Rana regime.[5] King Mahendra was unable to resist the increasingly well-orchestrated political demands by the Nepali National Congress for a more democratic and representative government, and was forced to promulgate a new constitution.[5]

The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1959 proclaimed on 12 February 1959, describes about Mahasabha (महासभा) as: "There shall be a Parliament which shall consist of His Majesty and two Houses, to be known respectively as the Senate (Maha Sabha) and the House of Representatives (Pratinidhi Sabha)" (Article No. 18, Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1959).[4]

The constitution of Kingdom of Nepal, 1959 lasted till 16 December 1962. On 16 December 1962, the new Constitution of Kingdom of Nepal, 1962 was proclaimed and the parliament of the Kingdom of Nepal became unicameral.[6] Mahasabha couldn't continue more than two years.

Rastriya Panchayat

Rastriya Panchayat was a constitution introduce on December 16, 1962, by King Mahendra.[7] A four-tier system of indirectly elected councils was established from the village to the national level.[8] The Rastriya Panchayat declared Nepal a Hindu state. The people's movement of 1990 brought an end to absolute monarchy and Panchayat system.

Membership

The qualifications for being a member of National Assembly are laid out in Article 87 of the constitution and the National Assembly Member Election Act, 2017:[9]

  • must be a citizen of Nepal
  • must be at least thirty-five years of age on date of nomination
  • must have name listed on voter list
  • should not have been convicted of a criminal offense involving moral turpitude
  • must not be disqualified by any Federal law
  • must not be holding any office of profit.

Election procedure

Each of the seven provinces elects 8 members each and Government of Nepal nominates 3 members and recommends to the President for approval.

The electoral college consists of members of the provincial assembly and chairperson/mayor and vice-chairperson/deputy mayor of the local bodies within the province. Each provincial assembly member's vote has a weight of forty eight whereas each chairperson/mayor/vice-chairperson/deputy mayor's vote has a weight of eighteen.

Out of the eight members from each province, three must be women, one must be from the Dalit community, and one must be a disabled person or from a minority community. Each elector gets four ballots; one for the three open seats, one for the three female seats, one for the dalit seat and one for the disabled or minority seat. The three open and three female seats are filled by single transferable vote, the two other seats by FPTP.

The election is conducted by the Election Commission.[10]

Chairpersons and deputy chairpersons
Chairpersons of the National Assembly[11]
Name Party Took office Left office
Maha Sabha
Dambar Bahadur Singh Nominated by King Mahendra 20 July 1959 15 December 1960
Parliament of the Kingdom of Nepal
Beni Bahadur Karki Nepali Congress 30 June 1991 13 July 1999
Mohammad Mohsin Rastriya Prajatantra Party 12 August 1999[12] 26 June 2002
Federal Parliament of Nepal
Ganesh Prasad Timilsina CPN (UML) 15 March 2018 Incumbent
Deputy chairpersons of the National Assembly[11]
Name Party Took office Left office
Maha Sabha
Kamala Rana Nominated by King Mahendra 21 July 1959 15 December 1962
Parliament of the Kingdom of Nepal
Aishwarya Lal Pradhananga Nepali Congress 4 July 1991 30 December 1991
Dilip Kumar Shahi Nepali Congress 20 March 1992 26 June 1997
Chiranjibi Prasad Rijal Nepali Congress 27 July 1997 27 June 2001
Ramprit Paswan CPN (UML) 10 August 2001 24 April 2006
Federal Parliament of Nepal
Shashikala Dahal CPN (Maoist Centre) 18 March 2018 4 March 2022
Urmila Aryal CPN (Maoist Centre) 6 February 2023 Incumbent

Current membership by party
See also: 2nd Federal Parliament of Nepal § Members of the National Assembly
Party Parliamentary party leader Members
CPN (UML) Devendra Dahal 18[lower-alpha 1]
CPN (Maoist Centre) Narayan Kaji Shrestha 16[lower-alpha 1]
Nepali Congress Ramesh Jung Rayamajhi 10
CPN (Unified Socialist) Beduram Bhusal 8
People's Socialist Party 3
Loktantrik Samajwadi Party[13] 1
Rastriya Janamorcha 1
Independent 2[lower-alpha 1]
Total 59
Province Seats held
Open Women Dalit D/M
Koshi
Madhesh
Bagmati
Gandaki
Lumbini
Karnali
Sudurpashchim
Nominated

See also

Explanatory notes
  1. Including 1 nominated member

References
  1. Article 86 (2) Constitution of Nepal
  2. "NEPAL: parliamentary elections Pratinidhi Sabha, 1991". archive.ipu.org.
  3. Jivanta Schottli, Subrata K. Mitra, Siegried Wolf (2015). A Political and Economic Dictionary of South Asia. Routledge. p. 258. ISBN 9781135355760.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. "The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1959" (PDF). www.constitutionnet.org/vl/item/constitution-kingdom-nepal-1959. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  5. "The Interim Constitution, 1951". www.couuntrystudies.us. U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  6. "Nepal-Salient Features of the New Constitution" (PDF). www.icwa.in. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  7. "The Panchayat Constitution, 1962". www.countrystudies.us. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  8. "The ideology of Nepal's Panchayati Raj" (PDF). www.arizona.openrepository.com. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
  9. "National Assembly Member Election Act, 2018" [राष्ट्रिय सभा सदस्य निर्वाचन ऐन, २०७५]. Act No. 1 of 4 July 2018 (PDF) (in Nepali). Federal Parliament.
  10. "IFES FAQs on Elections in Nepal: 2018 National Assembly Elections" (PDF).
  11. "पूर्व पदाधिकारीहरू". na.parliament.gov.np. Retrieved 2022-11-27.
  12. "muslim elected chairman of hindu nepals upper house of parliament". ucanews.com.
  13. "महन्थ नेतृत्वको नयाँ पार्टीमा क-कसले गरे सनाखत [सूचीसहित]". Lokaantar (in Nepali). Retrieved 2021-08-25.
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