06/04/2026
🕉️As a journalist, a human rights activist, and a concerned citizen of Nepal ,I feel it is important to reflect on the history of the Sabhāmukha (Speaker) of our Pratinidhi Sabha—not just as a ceremonial office, but as a barometer of how we have treated democracy, accountability, and the rights of ordinary people.
🕉️From 1959 to today
The first Speaker of Nepal’s elected House of Representatives was Krishna Prasad Bhattarai of the Nepali Congress, who presided over the 1st Pratinidhi Sabha from 3 July 1959 until King Mahendra dissolved parliament on 15 December 1960. That early experiment with parliamentary democracy was short‑lived, but Bhattarai’s tenure set a symbolic precedent: the Speaker was meant to be the guardian of debate, not a rubber‑stamp for autocratic power.
🕉️After the 1990 restoration of democracy, Daman Nath Dhungana became the first Speaker of the post‑Panchayat era, serving from June 1991 to October 1994. He is often remembered as a Speaker who tried to uphold the dignity of the House and the rights of members, even as political instability and partisan pressures grew.
🕉️The following Speakers—Ram Chandra Paudel, Taranath Ranabhat, Subas Chandra Nemwang, Onsari Gharti Magar, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Agni Prasad Sapkota, and Dev Raj Ghimire—span the tumultuous years of the peace process, the Constituent Assembly, the 2015 Constitution, and the first federal elections. Each tenure reflects the contradictions of our politics: the hope for inclusive democracy, yet the persistent risk of Speakers becoming tools of the ruling coalition rather than neutral protectors of minority voices and dissent.
🕉️Speaker and human rights
As a human rights activist, I watch the role of the Speaker closely because from the Speaker’s chair, the right to speak, to question, and to protest in Parliament is either safeguarded or suppressed. When Speakers shut down MPs, cut off debate, or allow the majority to ride roughshod over minority parties and civil society, they indirectly weaken the very human rights our Constitution promises.
🕉️The historic election of Onsari Gharti Magar as the first woman Speaker marked a hopeful break in patriarchal norms, but symbolic representation alone is not enough. If the Speaker does not defend the rights of women, Dalits, Janajatis, Madhesis, and other marginalized groups inside and outside the House, then the office risks becoming another site of exclusion.
🕉️A call from a concerned citizen
As a concerned citizen, I ask: has the legacy of our Speakers truly strengthened democratic accountability, transparency, and justice? Or has the post often been used to protect the powerful, silence critics, and rush through laws that shrink civic space? Every time parliamentary proceedings are manipulated, journalists are intimidated, activists are harassed, or protests are criminalized, the Speaker has a moral responsibility to intervene—not as a partisan leader, but as the guardian of the people’s House.
🕉️The history of Nepal’s Sabhāmukh is still being written. Let it be a history where the Speaker stands firmly for the rule of law, for the rights of the most vulnerable, and for a Parliament that truly reflects the voice of the Nepali people—because democracy is not just about elections; it is about how power is held accountable day after day in that chair.