The National Assembly () 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 in the Assembly: 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 the recommendation of the government.Article 86 (2) Constitution of Nepal Members serve staggered six-year terms, with one-third rotating out every two years.

History The 1959 Constitution of Nepal established the Senate as the upper house of the first democratically elected parliament following the 1951 revolution. The parliament was inactive following the 1960 coup d'état and was replaced by the unicameral Rastriya Panchayat in 1962. After the 1990 revolution, the Constitution of 1990 replaced the Rastriya Panchayat with a bicameral parliament with the National Assembly as the upper house. 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.

Qualifications 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: 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.

Duties of National Assembly The key function of the National Assembly is to review, revise, and pass the legislation passed by the House of Representatives. The lower house focuses on lawmaking, while the upper house helps revise and refine the legislation before it is passed. Composition

PartyParliamentary party leader Members Kamala Panta24 Beduram Bhusal18https://theannapurnaexpress.com/story/59772/ Devendra Dhaal1131Vacant2Total 59

Seat distribution ProvinceSeats heldOpenWomenDalitKoshi NC NC NC UML NCP UML UML UMLMadhesh PSP-N PSP-N NC UML NCP PSP-N NC NCBagmati UML NC NC NC NCP NC NCP NCPGandaki NC UML NC NCP NC NCP NCP NCLumbini NC NC NCP UML NCP NC RJM NCKarnali NC NCP NC UML NC NCP NCP NCPSudurpashchim NC NC UML NCP NCP NCP NCNominated NCP UML colspan="5"

Officers of the National Assembly Chairperson

The current chairperson of National Assembly is Narayan Prasad Dahal. He assumed office on 12 March 2024.

Deputy Chairperson

The current deputy chairperson of National Assembly is Lila Kumari Bhandari. She assumed office on 7 April 2026.

Terms of the National Assembly Elected inClassSeatsStartEndHead of StateParliament of the Kingdom of NepalMonarch19915026 June 199126 June 1993Birendra of Nepal1993I1727 June 199325 June 19951995II1613 November 199527 June 19971997III1727 June 199727 June 19991999I1710 July 199927 June 20012001II1627 June 200126 June 2003Gyanendra of NepalFederal Parliament of NepalPresident2018None7 February 20183 March 2020Bidya Devi Bhandari2020I193 March 20203 March 20222022II204 March 20223 March 2024Ram Chandra Poudel2024III204 March 20243 March 20262026I189 March 2026Incumbent

See also List of current members of the National Assebmly List of members of the National Assembly of Nepal Senate (Nepal)

Explanatory notes

References