Member of Parliament (Pratinidhi Sabha)

The first instance of a directly elected lower house in Nepal dates back to 18 February 1959, when the first general election was held under the Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1959. The constitution, proclaimed on 12 February 1959, established a bicameral Parliament consisting of the Senate (Maha Sabha) and the House of Representatives (Pratinidhi Sabha).^[4] The 1st Pratinidhi Sabha had 109 members, all directly elected from single-member constituencies. Voting took place over several weeks, and the Nepali Congress, led by B. P. Koirala, won a majority. The house convened in May 1959.^[5]

However, Nepal's first democratic experiment was short-lived. On 15 December 1960, King Mahendra staged a coup d'état, suspended the constitution, dissolved parliament, and imprisoned the prime minister and many MPs. The Panchayat system was introduced in 1962, abolishing political parties and replacing parliament with the Rastriya Panchayat, which was not elected by universal suffrage.^[6]

After the success of the 1990 People's Movement, a new constitution restored multi-party democracy. The 2nd Pratinidhi Sabha was elected in the 1991 general election. It consisted of 205 members directly elected from single-member constituencies. Three more elections were held under this constitution: in 1994, 1999, and, following the 2006 democracy movement, elections for the 1st Constituent Assembly in 2008. The Constituent Assembly, which also served as the interim legislature, had 240 FPTP seats and 335 proportional representation seats, a total of 575 members.^[7]

The 2nd Constituent Assembly was elected in 2013. It drafted and promulgated the Constitution of Nepal on 20 September 2015. Under this constitution, a permanent bicameral Federal Parliament was established, consisting of the Pratinidhi Sabha and the National Assembly. The first election to the new Pratinidhi Sabha was held in 2017 in two phases, electing 275 members: 165 by FPTP and 110 by proportional representation.^[8]

The 6th Pratinidhi Sabha was dissolved on 12 September 2025 by President Ram Chandra Paudel following the 2025 Nepalese Gen Z protests. Fresh elections were held on 5 March 2026, resulting in a landslide victory for the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which secured 182 seats. The 7th Pratinidhi Sabha convened on 27 March 2026.^[9][10]

According to Article 87 of the Constitution of Nepal, a person shall be qualified to become a member of the Pratinidhi Sabha if the person fulfils the following requirements:^[11]

• is a citizen of Nepal,
• has completed the age of twenty-five years on the date of nomination,
• has not been convicted of a criminal offence involving moral turpitude,
• is not disqualified by any federal law, and
• does not hold an office of profit as defined by federal law.

Additionally, under the House of Representatives Election Act, 2017, candidates must be registered voters and must submit a nomination paper along with the prescribed deposit to the Election Commission.^[12] No person may be a member of both the Pratinidhi Sabha and the National Assembly simultaneously.^[11]

A member of the Pratinidhi Sabha may be disqualified under Article 88 of the Constitution and the House of Representatives Election Act, 2017 if the person:^[13]

• holds an office of profit under the Government of Nepal,
• is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court,
• is an undischarged insolvent,
• has ceased to be a citizen of Nepal,
• has been convicted of a criminal offence involving moral turpitude and sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more,
• has been dismissed from government service for corruption or disloyalty to the state,
• has been convicted of an electoral offence, or
• is disqualified under any other federal law.

A member's seat falls vacant under Article 91 of the Constitution if the member:

• resigns in writing to the Speaker,
• becomes unable to discharge their duties for a period of ten consecutive meetings without notice,
• ceases to belong to the political party under which they were elected (for proportional representation members), or
• dies.^[14]

The term of the Pratinidhi Sabha is five years from the date of its first meeting after the general election. Under Article 85(2) of the Constitution, the President of Nepal may, on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, dissolve the house before the completion of its term and call for fresh elections. During a state of emergency, the term of the house may be extended by federal law for a period not exceeding one year at a time; however, any such extension shall not exceed six months after the end of the state of emergency.^[15]

The broad responsibilities of members of the Pratinidhi Sabha include:

• Legislative responsibility: To introduce, debate, amend, and pass federal laws within the jurisdiction specified in Schedule 5 of the Constitution.
• Oversight responsibility: To hold the executive branch accountable through parliamentary questions, motions of public importance, and the work of parliamentary committees such as the Public Accounts Committee.
• Representative responsibility: To represent the views and aspirations of the people of their constituency, raise issues of public concern, and bring petitions before the house.
• Budgetary responsibility: To review, approve, and monitor the annual budget, appropriations, taxation measures, and public expenditure of the Government of Nepal.
• Members of the Council of Ministers, who are also members of parliament, have the additional responsibility of exercising executive authority and formulating government policy.^[16]

The salary, allowances, and facilities of members of the Pratinidhi Sabha are governed by the Remuneration and Facilities of Federal Parliament Officials and Members Act, 2016. As of March 2026, the monthly entitlements of an MP are as follows:^[1][17]

In total, an MP who does not own a home in Kathmandu receives approximately NPR 91,070 per month (excluding meeting and travel allowances). MPs who own a home in Kathmandu receive approximately NPR 82,070. MPs are also entitled to a personal secretary, whose salary is paid by the Parliament Secretariat.^[18] After retirement, former MPs are entitled to a pension if they have served at least one full term.

Article 84 of the Constitution of Nepal fixes the composition of the Pratinidhi Sabha as follows:^[2]

• 165 members elected from single-member constituencies by first-past-the-post voting.
• 110 members elected from a single national list by proportional representation using a closed list system.

The total membership is 275. Under the proportional representation system, political parties must ensure that at least one-third of the total number of their candidates are women. Additionally, parties must ensure proportional inclusion of Dalit, indigenous, Madheshi, Tharu, Muslim, and other marginalised communities in their closed lists.^[2]

The seats are distributed among the provinces of Nepal as follows:

The 110 proportional representation seats are allocated from a single nationwide constituency based on the proportion of valid votes each party receives, provided the party crosses the threshold of three per cent of total valid votes.^[19]

• Federal Parliament of Nepal
• House of Representatives (Nepal)
• National Assembly (Nepal)
• Election Commission, Nepal
• Politics of Nepal
• 7th House of Representatives (Nepal)