National Assembly राष्ट्रिय सभा | |
|---|---|
| Contiguous: 2nd Class 1, Class 2, Class 3 | |
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
Vice Chairperson | |
Leader of the Ruling Party | |
Leader of the Opposition | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 59 |
 | |
Political groups | |
Length of term | 6 years |
| Elections | |
| 56 members by indirectsingle transferable vote, 3 appointed by thePresident | |
Last election | 25 January 2024 (Class 3)[1] |
Next election | 2026 (Class 1); 2028 (Class 2); 2030 (Class 3) |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| International Convention Centre, Kathmandu,Nepal | |
| Website | |
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Executive:
Judiciary: |
Related topics |
 Nepal portal |
TheRastriya Sabha (Nepali:राष्ट्रिय सभा,romanized: Rāṣṭriya Sabhā), officially known as theNational Assembly, is the upper house of theFederal Parliament of Nepal, the lower house being theHouse of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Assembly are established by Part 8 and 9 of theConstitution of Nepal. There are a total of 59 members: 8 members are elected from each of theseven provinces by an electoral college of each province, and three are appointed by thePresident on recommendation of the government.[2]
Members servestaggered six year terms such that the term of one-third members expires every two years.
The National Assembly was first provisioned by the "Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990", which replaced theold panchayat system of parliament with a bicameral parliament.[3] The National Assembly under the 1990 Constitution was dissolved on 15 January 2007 and replaced by a unicameralInterim 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.[4]
Mahasabha (Nepali:महासभा) was the upper house of the bicameral parliament of theKingdom of Nepal from 1959 to 1962.[5]
TheRevolution of 1951 made the process to enact a new constitution, which was able to transfer all executive powers back to theShah kings fromRana regime.[6]King Mahendra was unable to resist the increasingly well-orchestrated political demands by theNepali National Congress for a more democratic and representative government, and was forced to promulgate a new constitution.[6]
The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1959 proclaimed on 12 February 1959, describes aboutMahasabha (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 theHouse of Representatives (Pratinidhi Sabha)"(Article No. 18, Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1959).[5]
The constitution of Kingdom of Nepal, 1959 lasted till 16 December 1962. On 16 December 1962, the newConstitution of Kingdom of Nepal, 1962 was proclaimed and the parliament of the Kingdom of Nepal became unicameral.[7] Mahasabha couldn't continue more than two years.
Rastriya Panchayat was a constitution introduce on December 16, 1962, by King Mahendra.[8] A four-tier system of indirectly elected councils was established from the village to the national level.[9] The Rastriya Panchayat declared Nepal a Hindu state. Thepeople's movement of 1990 brought an end to absolute monarchy and Panchayat system.
The qualifications for being a member of National Assembly are laid out in Article 87 of theconstitution and the National Assembly Member Election Act, 2017:[10]
Each of theseven provinces elects 8 members each andGovernment of Nepal nominates 3 members and recommends to the president for approval.
The electoral college consists of members of theprovincial 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 theDalit 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 bysingle transferable vote, the two other seats byFPTP.
The election is conducted by theElection Commission.[11]
| Name | Party | Took office | Left office | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maha Sabha | ||||
| Dambar Bahadur Singh | Nominated byKing 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[13] | 26 June 2002 | |
| Federal Parliament of Nepal | ||||
| Ganesh Prasad Timilsina | CPN (Unified Marxist Leninist) | 15 March 2018 | 4 March 2024 | |
| Narayan Prasad Dahal | CPN (Maoist Centre) | 12 March 2024 | Incumbent | |
| Name | Party | Took office | Left office | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maha Sabha | ||||
| Kamal Rana | Nominated byKing 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 (Unified Marxist Leninist) | 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 | 28 March 2024[14] | |
| Bimala Ghimire | CPN (Unified Marxist Leninist) | 10 April 2024[15] | Incumbent | |
| Province | Seats held | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open | Women | Dalit | D/M | |||||
| Koshi | ||||||||
| Madhesh | ||||||||
| Bagmati | ||||||||
| Gandaki | ||||||||
| Lumbini | ||||||||
| Karnali | ||||||||
| Sudurpashchim | ||||||||
| Nominated | ||||||||
| Federal Parliament of Nepal |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provincial Assemblies | |||||
| Former legislatures | |||||
| Constitution | |
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| Executive | |
| Legislative | |
| Judiciary | |
