Ram Chandra Poudel Explained

Honorific Prefix:His Excellency The Right Honourable
Ram Chandra Paudel
Order:3rd
Office:President of Nepal
Term Start:13 March 2023
Vicepresident:Nanda Kishor Pun
Ram Sahaya Yadav
Primeminister:Pushpa Kamal Dahal
Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli
Deputy:Narayan Kaji Shrestha
Purna Bahadur Khadka
Raghubir Mahaseth
Rabi Lamichhane
Bishnu Prasad Paudel
Prakash Man Singh
Predecessor:Bidya Devi Bhandari
Office1:Leader of the Opposition
Termstart1:6 February 2011
Termend1:14 March 2013
President1:Ram Baran Yadav
Primeminister1:Jhala Nath Khanal
Baburam Bhattarai
Predecessor1:Pushpa Kamal Dahal
Successor1:Pushpa Kamal Dahal
Office2:Speaker of the House of Representatives
Termstart2:18 December 1994
Termend2:23 March 1999
Deputy2:Ram Vilas Yadav
Lila Shrestha Subba
Bhojraj Joshi
Monarch2:Birendra
Predecessor2:Daman Nath Dhungana
Successor2:Tara Nath Ranabhat
Office3:Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs
Termstart3:1999
Termend3:2002
Primeminister3:Krishna Prasad Bhattarai
Girija Prasad Koirala
Sher Bahadur Deuba
Monarch3:Gyanendra
Office4:Minister for Peace and Reconstruction
Termstart4:2007
Termend4:2008
Primeminister4:Girija Prasad Koirala
Office5:Minister for Local Development and Agriculture
Termstart5:1991
Termend5:1994
Monarch5:Birendra
Primeminister5:Girija Prasad Koirala
Office6:Member of Parliament, Pratinidhi Sabha
Termstart6:22 December 2022
Termend6:9 March 2023
Constituency6:Tanahun 1
Predecessor6:Krishna Kumar Shrestha
Successor6:Swarnim Wagle
Termstart7:October 1994
Termend7:May 2002
Predecessor7:Govinda Raj Joshi
Successor7:Himself
Constituency7:Tanahun 2
Termstart8:May 1991
Termend8:August 1994
Predecessor8:Constituency established
Successor8:Govinda Raj Joshi
Constituency8:Tanahun 1
Office9:Member of the Constituent Assembly / Legislature Parliament
Termstart9:28 May 2008
Termend9:14 October 2017
Predecessor9:Himself
Constituency9:Tanahun 2
Office10:Vice President of the Nepali Congress
Termstart10:2008
Termend10:2016
Predecessor10:Prakash Man Singh
Gopal Man Shrestha
Successor10:Bimalendra Nidhi
Birth Date:6 October 1944
Birth Place:Tanahun, Nepal
Nationality:Nepali
Spouse:Savita Poudel
Children:5
Parents:Rishima
Durga Prasad
Occupation:Politician

Ram Chandra Paudel (; born 6 October 1944) is a Nepalese politician serving as the third president of Nepal, since 13 March 2023.[1] [2]

A former senior leader of the Nepali Congress, Paudel previously served as the speaker of the House of Representatives from 1994 to 1999, and was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs from 1999 to 2002. First elected to parliament in 1991, he served in numerous other ministerial positions and was the Leader of the Opposition from 2011 to 2013, as the parliamentary party leader of the Nepali Congress.[3]

Early life

Ram Chandra Paudel was born on 6 October 1944 in a Brahmin farming family in the remote village of Satiswara, located in the present-day Vyas municipality of Tanahun district. He completed his secondary education (SLC) from Nandi Ratri Secondary School in Kathmandu and studied Sanskrit literature at the Sanskrit University from 1963 to 1967.[4] [5] He also completed a MA in Nepali literature from the Tribhuvan University in 1970, appearing in his examinations while being detained in prison for anti-Panchayat activities.[6]

Political career

Early years and student politics (1960s and 1970s)

Paudel got into politics aged just 16 when he joined the protests and movement against the dismissal of the B.P. Koirala-led government and imposition of Panchayat rule by King 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 took initiatives in organizing the Nepal Student Union, the Congress party’s student wing established in 1970, and was the union's founding central committee member.

Party politics (1970s – 2023)

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 from Tanahun 1 in the 1991 general election, and served as the Minister for Local Development and Agriculture from May 1991 to 1994.

In the 1994 general election, he switched seats and was elected from Tanahun 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 the 1999 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. Paudel was elected vice-president of the Nepali Congress in 2008, and defeated former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to become Congress' parliamentary party leader following the 2008 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 of Sushil 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 by Krishna Kumar Shrestha of the CPN (UML) in the 2017 general election.[11] He remained active in party politics, and was elected from Tanahun 1 in the 2022 general election.[12]

Detentions

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:

President (2023 – present)

Paudel was the candidate from Nepali Congress and its 10-party alliance for the 2023 presidential election, and was elected president on 9 March 2023, defeating former speaker Subas Chandra Nemwang of the CPN (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]

Personal life

Paudel is married to Savita Paudel and the couple have five children: four daughters and one son.

Publications

Paudel is an active writer and his political and theoretical affairs are frequently published in national vernaculars, including:

Paudel received the Mahendra Bikram Shah Prize for an article titled "Human Rights Condition in Nepal" in 1987.

Honors

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ram Chandra Paudel is new President . 2023-03-25 . kathmandupost.com . English.
  2. Web site: 2023-03-09 . Ram Chandra Paudel is the new president of Nepal - OnlineKhabar English News . 2023-03-09 . Online Khabar . en-GB.
  3. Web site: Paudel caps his career with presidency . 2023-03-25 . kathmandupost.com . English.
  4. Web site: १४ वर्षको बन्दी जीवनदेखि राष्ट्रपतिसम्म . 2023-03-25 . GorakhaPatra.
  5. Web site: रासस . 2021-06-14 . संस्कृत भाषाको पुनर्जागरण गर्नुपर्छः रामचन्द्र पौडेल . 2023-03-25 . देशसञ्चार . en-US.
  6. Web site: वामपन्थी राजनीति छाडेर कांग्रेसमा होमिएका रामचन्द्र, यस्तो छ बेलथुम्कीदेखि शीतलनिवाससम्मको यात्रा :: शिलापत्र संवाददाता :: Shilapatra शिलापत्र - खबरको स्थायी ठेगाना . 2023-03-25 . shilapatra.com.
  7. Web site: Ram Chandra Paudel elected new President of Nepal . 2023-03-25 . The Annapurna Express . en.
  8. Web site: 2023-03-10 . Ram Chandra Paudel Failed to Become Nepal Prime Minister 17 Times, But Won President Polls in First Attempt . 2023-03-25 . News18 . en.
  9. Web site: 2016-02-16 . Koirala's death sparks leadership tussle in Nepali Congress . 2023-03-25 . Hindustan Times . en.
  10. Web site: Times . The Himalayan . 2016-03-07 . Sher Bahadur Deuba elected Nepali Congress president . 2023-03-25 . The Himalayan Times . en.
  11. Web site: Sen . Sandeep . 2017-12-10 . NC senior leader Poudel defeated in Tanahun 1 . 2023-03-25 . The Himalayan Times . en.
  12. Web site: Republica . NC leader Paudel elected as HoR member from Tanahun-1 . 2023-03-25 . My Republica . en.
  13. Web site: Eight political parties to support Congress candidate in presidential election . 2023-03-25 . kathmandupost.com . English.
  14. Web site: 2023-03-09 . Nepal elects new president amid political uncertainty . 2023-03-25 . AP NEWS . en.
  15. Web site: Republica . President-elect Paudel separates himself from party responsibilities . 2023-03-25 . My Republica . en.
  16. Web site: President Paudel resigns as HoR member . 2023-03-25 . Khabarhub . en.
  17. Web site: Republica . President Paudel assumes his office, resigns from the post of HoR member . 2023-03-25 . My Republica . en.
  18. Web site: Congress leader Ram Chandra Paudel to receive Japanese honours . 2021-02-12 . kathmandupost.com . English.