Ram Chandra Poudel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| रामचन्द्र पौडेल | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg) Poudel in 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3rd President of Nepal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 13 March 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Pushpa Kamal Dahal K. P. Sharma Oli Sushila Karki (interim) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vice President | Nanda Kishor Pun Ram Sahaya Yadav | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Bidya Devi Bhandari | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader of the Opposition | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 6 February 2011 – 14 March 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President | Ram Baran Yadav | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Jhala Nath Khanal Baburam Bhattarai | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Pushpa Kamal Dahal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Pushpa Kamal Dahal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3rdSpeaker of the House of Representatives | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 18 December 1994 – 23 March 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Monarch | Birendra | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Ram Vilas Yadav Lila Shrestha Subba Bhojraj Joshi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Daman Nath Dhungana | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Taranath Ranabhat | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1944-10-06)6 October 1944 (age 81) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Independent (since 2023) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other political affiliations | Nepali Congress (until 2023) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Savita Poudel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ram Chandra Paudel[c] (born 6 October 1944) is a Nepalese politician who is serving as the thirdpresident of Nepal since 2023. A former senior leader of theNepali Congress, Paudel previously served as thespeaker of theHouse of Representatives from 1994 to 1999, and was thedeputy prime minister andMinister for Home Affairs from 1999 to 2002. First elected toparliament in1991, he served in numerous other ministerial positions and was theLeader of the Opposition from 2011 to 2013, as the parliamentary party leader of the Nepali Congress.[1]
Ram Chandra Paudel was born on 6 October 1944 in aBahun (synonoms of casteBrahmin) farming family in the remote village ofSatiswara, located in the present-dayVyas Municipality ofTanahun District. He completed his secondary education (SLC) from Nandi Ratri Secondary School in Kathmandu and studiedSanskrit literature at theNepal Sanskrit University from 1963 to 1967.[2][3] He also completed aMA inNepali literature from theTribhuvan University in 1970, appearing in his examinations while being detained in prison for anti-Panchayat activities.[4]
Paudel got into politics aged just 16 when he joined the protests and movement against thedismissal of theB.P. Koirala-led government and imposition ofPanchayat rule byKing Mahendra in December 1960, and participated in numerous Congress-led armed struggles for the restoration of democracy in the 1960s. A key campaigner for the students’ movement in Nepal, he was elected president of the student union at the Saraswati Campus in 1967 and elected general secretary of the Democratic Socialist Youth League in 1968.
Paudel, became a member of theArjun Narasingha K.C. led Student Rally Coordination Committee along withSher Bahadur Deuba.[5][6] He took initiatives in organizing theNepal Student Union, the Congress party’s student wing established in 1970, and was the union's founding central committee member.
Paudel entered into mainstream party politics in 1977, when he was elected member of the Nepali Congress Tanahun district committee. He was elected vice-president of the district committee in 1979, and president in 1980. Paudel was appointed coordinator of the Nepali Congress's Central Publicity Committee in 1983, and was appointed member of the party's central committee and chief of the party's central level publicity bureau in 1987.
Paudel was first elected to parliament fromTanahun 1 in the1991 general election, and served as the Minister for Local Development and Agriculture from May 1991 to 1994.
In the1994 general election, he switched seats and was elected fromTanahun 2, a seat he then held consecutively until 2017. Paudel was elected speaker of the House of Representatives following the election, and served until 1999. Following the1999 general election, he was appointed deputy prime minister and Minister for Home Affairs, and he served in those positions until 2002.[7]Paudel was elected general secretary of the Nepali Congress following the party's general convention in 2006. He played an important role in the peace process as the coordinator of the Peace Secretariat after the end of the civil war, and served as the Minister for Peace and Reconstruction from 2007 to 2008.[7] Paudel was elected vice-president of the Nepali Congress in 2008, and defeated former prime ministerSher Bahadur Deuba to become Congress' parliamentary party leader following the2008 Constituent Assembly election. Paudel contested the prime ministerial election in parliament in 2010, but was not elected even after 17 rounds of election.[8] He served as the Congress party's acting president after the death ofSushil Koirala in 2016, but was defeated by Deuba in the party's 13th general convention later in the year.[9][10]
Having decided to switch back to his old seat of Tanahun 1, Paudel was defeated byKrishna Kumar Shrestha of the CPN (UML) in the2017 general election.[11] He remained active in party politics, and was elected from Tanahun 1 in the2022 general election.[12]
Paudel spent over 15 years as a prisoner of conscience on various occasions, mostly for being an opponent of the panchayat system. He was detained on the following occasions:[citation needed]
Paudel was the candidate from Nepali Congress and its 10-party alliance for the 2023 presidential election, and waselected president on 9 March 2023, defeating former speakerSubas Chandra Nemwang of theCPN (UML).[13][14] He disassociated himself from all party responsibilities and resigned as an active member of the Nepali Congress after being elected president.[15] Paudel resigned as member of Parliament before assuming office as president on 13 March 2023.[16][17]
There were reports that Paudel had resigned as a result of the2025 Gen Z protests.[18] He denied those reports and theNepali Army confirmed that Paudel did not resign.[19][20][21] Hisofficial residence as president, theRastrapati Bhawan, was also set ablaze during the protests.[22]
Paudel is married to Savita Paudel and the couple have five children: four daughters and one son.
Paudel is an active writer and his political and theoretical affairs are frequently published in national vernaculars, including:[citation needed]
Paudel received theMahendra Bikram Shah Prize for an article titled "Human Rights Condition in Nepal" in 1987.[4]
Japan:
Grand Cordon of theOrder of the Rising Sun (2020) –for contributions in enhancingNepal-Japan ties[23]| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | President of Nepal 2023–present | Incumbent |
