The House of Representatives, commonly known as Pratinidhi Sabha (), is one of the houses of the Federal Parliament of Nepal, with the other house being the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

. Members of the House of Representatives are elected through a

parallel voting In political science, parallel voting or superposition refers to the use of two or more Electoral system, electoral systems to elect different members of a legislature. More precisely, an electoral system is a superposition if it is a mixture o ...

system. They hold their seats for five years or until the body is dissolved by the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

on the advice of the

council of ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

. The house meets at the International Convention Centre in

Kathmandu Kathmandu () is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 mi ...

. The House has 275 members; 165 elected from

single-member constituencies A single-member district or constituency is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a Multiwinner voting, multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. In some countries, such as ...

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

and 110 elected through

proportional electoral system Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (political parties) among voters. The aim ...

where voters vote for political parties, considering the whole country as a single election constituency. The House of Representatives, unless dissolved, continues to operate for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting. However, in a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

, the term of the House of Representatives may be extended, not exceeding one year in accordance with federal law. The current House of Representatives was elected by the general elections held on 20 November 2022, and its first session convened on 9 January 2023.

History

Parliament of Kingdom of Nepal, 1959–1962

The 1959 constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, proclaimed on 12 February 1959, first mentions the Pratinidhi Sabha first as follows: "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).'' The 1959 constitution was abrogated on 16 December 1962 when the new Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1962 was proclaimed and the parliament of the kingdom became unicameral.

Post-Panchayat, 1990–2002

The House of Representatives was first provided for by the "Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal 1990", which replaced the former

panchayat system Panchayat ( Nepali: पञ्चायत) was a political system in Nepal from 1961 to 1990. It banned political parties and placed all governmental power, including power over the Council of Ministers and Federal Parliament, under the sole aut ...

of parliament with a bicameral parliament. It consisted of 205 members directly elected from single-member constituencies. It had five-year terms, but it could be dissolved by the

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

on the advice of the Prime Minister before the end of its term.

Dissolution, 2002–2007

In May 2002, the House of Representatives was dissolved by

King Gyanendra Gyanendra Shah (born 7 July 1947) is the final monarch of Nepal, ruled from 2001 until 2008, when the monarchy was overthrown. He briefly held the throne as a child between 1950 and 1951, when his grandfather Tribhuvan and his family fled to In ...

on advice of the then prime minister,

Sher Bahadur Deuba Sher Bahadur Deuba (, ; born 13 June 1946, Ashigram, Kingdom of Nepal) is a Nepali politician and former prime minister of Nepal. He has also been serving as the president of the Nepali Congress since 2016. Deuba has served five terms as prime ...

, in order to hold new elections. Elections could not take place due to the ongoing

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, which eventually led King Gyanendra to stage a royal coup. Following the democracy movement of 2006, the King reinstated the earlier legislature. On 15 January 2007, the House of Representatives was transformed into an Interim legislature. This consisted of members appointed under an agreement between the

Seven Party Alliance The Seven Party Alliance was a coalition of seven Nepali political parties seeking to end autocratic rule in the country. They spearheaded the Loktantra Andolan. The alliance was made up of the following parties: * Nepali Congress * Nepali Congr ...

and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (known by the name

Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) (), abbreviated CPN (Maoist Centre) or CPN (MC), is the third largest List of political parties in Nepal, political party in Nepal and a member party of Socialist Front (Nepal), Samajbadi Morcha. I ...

, since 2009).

Federal Parliament of Nepal, 2015–present

The

Constitution of Nepal The Constitution of Nepal () is the present governing Constitution of Nepal. Nepal is governed according to the Constitution which came into effect on 20 September 2015, replacing the Interim Constitution of 2007. The constitution of Nepal is di ...

was drafted by the 2nd Constituent Assembly and the provision for a

bicameral legislature Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single ...

was re-adopted. The House of Representatives became the lower house of the Federal Parliament of Nepal and its first election was held in 2017.

Members

The composition and powers of the house are established by Parts 8 and 9 of the

. The qualifications for becoming a member of the House are laid out in Article 87 of the Constitution and House of Representatives Election Act, 2017. Members must be: * a citizen of Nepal * twenty five years or older on date of nomination * without a criminal offense conviction involving moral turpitude * not disqualified by any federal law * not hold any office of profit (paid by the government). In addition to this, no member can be a member of both the House of Representatives and the

Vacation of seat

The seat of a member of House of Representatives may be considered vacant in the following circumstances: * Written resignation to the Speaker, * Unable to comply to Article 91, * Expired term of office / house, * Unclarified / uninformed absence for ten consecutive house sessions, * Resignation / removal from the party to which the candidate was associated during election, * Death.

Current membership

Composition by province

Officers of the House of Representatives

Speakers of the House of Representatives

Deputy speakers of the House of Representatives

Terms of the House of Representatives

Notes

References

{{National lower houses 1990 establishments in Nepal Government of Nepal History of Nepal (1951–2008) Parliament of Nepal National lower houses