2023 Nepalese vice presidential election

2023 Nepalese vice presidential election

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Registered	881
Candidate Ram Sahaya Yadav Asta Laxmi Shakya Mamata Jha Party People's Socialist Party, Nepal (2020) CPN (UML) Janamat Electoral vote 30,328 16,328 2,537 Percentage 61.59% 33.16% 5.15%
Vice President before election Nanda Kishor Pun Maoist Centre Elected Vice President Ram Sahaya Yadav People's Socialist Party, Nepal (2020)

The election to elect the third vice president of Nepal was held on 17 March 2023. ^[1]

The term of the incumbent vice president, Nanda Kishor Pun, first elected in 2015, was set to expire on 17 March 2023. He was term-limited and could not seek re-election, with the Constitution of Nepal barring him from doing so. ^{[2] [3]}

As Article 70 of the Constitution prohibits the vice president of being from the same sex and community as the president, and with Ram Chandra Poudel, a Khas Arya male, elected president, only candidates who were from non Khas Arya ethnicity or female were allowed to file their nominations for the election. ^[4]

Electoral process

The Vice President of Nepal is elected by the majority of the votes of all members of the electoral colleges. If no candidate is elected, a second round is held between the top two candidates of the first round, under the same majority. As the latter is of the total votes including blank and invalid ones as well as abstentions, it is possible no candidate is elected in the first and second rounds. A third may then be held with the same candidates as in the second. The candidate with the majority of valid votes is then elected vice president. ^[5]

Part 6, Article 64 of the Constitution of Nepal 2015 sets the following qualifications for holding the presidency:

1. A person shall be eligible to be president if he/she fulfils the following qualifications:
   • He/she is eligible to be a member of the Federal Parliament.
   • He/she has attained at least 45 years of age, and
   • Is not ineligible by any law.
2. Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (1), a person who has already been elected president for two terms, shall not be eligible to be a presidential candidate for the presidential election thereafter.

Election schedule

The Election Commission announced the schedule for the vice presidential elections on 30 January 2023. ^[6]

Vice-presidential election schedule

22 February	Publication of initial electoral roll
22 – 24 February	Claims and scrutiny on electoral roll
24 February	Publication of final electoral roll
9 March	Presidential election
11 March	Nomination of candidates
11 – 12 March	Scrutiny on nominations
12 March	Publication of final list of nominations
17 March	Date of election

Electoral college

The electoral college is composed in 2023 of 881 members, of which 331 are from the federal parliament and 550 from the provincial assemblies, with a vote "weight" of 79 and 48 each, respectively. While the federal parliament is made of 275 members from the lower house and 59 from the upper one, 2 members of the lower house were unable to be registered in the electoral college because of a judicial affair and a third one died, thus lowering the electoral college total from the normal number of 884 to 881, and the grand total of weighted votes from 52,786 to 52,549. ^{[7] [8]}

Electoral college composition

Composition ^[9]

Party		Pratinidhi Sabha	Rastriya Sabha	Pradesh Sabha	Total electors
	Nepali Congress	88 [lower-alpha 1]	10	175	273
	CPN (UML)	79	18	162	259
	CPN (Maoist Centre)	31	16	85	132
	CPN (Unified Socialist)	10	8	25	43
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party	14	0	28	42
	People's Socialist Party	11	3	23	37
	Janamat Party	6	0	16	22
	Rastriya Swatantra Party	19	0	0	19
	Loktantrik Samajwadi Party	4	1	12	17
	Nagarik Unmukti Party	4	0	12	16
	Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party	1	0	3	4
	Rastriya Janamorcha	1	1	1	3
	Nepal Socialist Party	1	0	2	3
	Hamro Nepali Party	0	0	2	2
	Independent	3	2	4	9
Total		272 [lower-alpha 2]	59	550	881

Electoral college vote value composition

Party		Pratinidhi Sabha	Rastriya Sabha	Pradesh Sabha	Total votes	Percentage
	Nepali Congress	6,952	790	8,400	16,142	30.72
	CPN (UML)	6,241	1,422	7,776	15,439	29.38
	CPN (Maoist Centre)	2,449	1,264	4,080	7,793	14.83
	CPN (Unified Socialist)	790	632	1,200	2,622	4.99
	Rastriya Prajatantra Party	1,106	0	1,344	2,450	4.66
	People's Socialist Party	869	237	1,104	2,210	4.21
	Rastriya Swatantra Party	1501	0	0	1,501	2.86
	Janamat Party	474	0	768	1,242	2.36
	Loktantrik Samajwadi Party	316	79	576	971	1.85
	Nagarik Unmukti Party	316	0	576	892	1.70
	Nepal Majdoor Kisan Party	79	0	144	223	0.42
	Rastriya Janamorcha	79	79	48	206	0.39
	Nepal Socialist Party	79	0	96	175	0.33
	Hamro Nepali Party	0	0	96	96	0.18
	Independent	237	158	192	587	1.12
Total		21,488	4,661	26,400	52,549	100

Candidates

On 11 March, a total of four candidates filed their nominations for the vice-presidential election. ^[10] Three candidacies were filed from the ruling eight-party alliance; Ram Sahaya Yadav and Pramila Yadav of the PSPN and Mamata Jha of the Janamat Party. ^[11] The opposition CPN (UML) put forward party vice-chair, Astalaxmi Shakya as its vice-presidential candidate. ^[12]

Complaints were lodged against the candidacy of Ram Sahaya Yadav, by both the CPN (UML) and Janamat Party candidates, claiming the candidacy by Yadav is against the constitutional and legal provisions, as the constitution calls for the president and vice president to be of different genders or community. The electoral commission had initially announced that it was interpreting this as meaning vice president candidates had to be of both different gender and different community, prompting the PSPN to also propose the candidacy of Pramila Yadav. ^{[13] [14]} However, the Election Commission eventually changed opinion and quashed the complaints, ruling that Yadav's candidacy was lawful by concluding that legal provisions only require the president and the vice president to be from a different gender or a different community. ^[15] Following this, the PSPN decided to withdraw the candidacy of Pramila Yadav. ^[16]

People's Socialist Party, Nepal

Candidate		Born	Positions held	Province	Announced	Ref
	Ram Sahaya Yadav	(1970-07-24) 24 July 1970 (age 54) Bara, Madhesh	Minister for Forests and Environment (2021–2022) Member of House of Representatives from Bara (2018–present) Member of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal from party list (2008–2012)	Madhesh	9 March 2023	[17]

Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist)

Candidate		Born	Positions held	Province	Announced	Ref
	Astalaxmi Shakya	(1953-09-30) 30 September 1953 (age 70) Kathmandu, Bagmati	Chief Minister of Bagmati Province (2021) Minister for Industry (2008–2009) Minister for Women, Children and Social Welfare (2004–2005) Member of the House of Representatives (1999–2008) Member of the Bagmati Provincial Assembly (2018–2022)	Bagmati	11 March 2023	[18]

Janamat Party

Candidate		Born	Positions held	Province	Announced	Ref
	Mamata Jha	1968 (age 55–56) Madhesh	N/A	Madhesh	11 March 2023	[19]

Results

Results ^{[20] [21]}

Candidate		Party	Votes			Total votes	%
			Federal	Provincial	Total
	Ram Sahaya Yadav	PSP-N	184	329	513	30,328	61.59
	Asta Laxmi Shakya	CPN (UML)	104	169	273	16,328	33.16
	Mamata Jha	Janamat	23	15	38	2,537	5.15
	Pramila Yadav (withdrawn)	PSP-N	0	1	1	48	0.10
Valid votes			311	514	825	49,241	99.52
Blank and invalid votes			0	4	4	192	0.48
Total			311	518	829	49,433	100
Registered voters / turnout			331	550	881	52,549	94.10

See also

• 2023 Nepalese presidential election

Notes

1. excluding 1 suspended MP
2. excluding 2 vacant seats and 1 suspended MP

References

1. "Republic set to elect its third Vice President today". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
2. Says, Mayorge. "Part-6 President and Vice-President – Nepal Law Commission" . Retrieved 2021-06-06.
3. "History & Background". Office of the President of Nepal. Retrieved 2021-06-06.
4. Service, Himalayan News (2023-03-11). "Nomination filing for vice-presidential election today". The Himalayan Times. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
5. Constitution
6. "राष्ट्रपति तथा उपराष्ट्रपतिको निर्वाचन मिति घोषणा सम्बन्धमा" (PDF). Election Commission (Nepal) (in Nepali). 30 January 2023. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
7. Republica. "EC publishes voters list for presidential election". My Republica. Retrieved 22 February 2023..
8. Republica. "MP Arun Chaudhary, who was granted clemency by Prez, released from jail". My Republica. Retrieved 22 February 2023..
9. Republica. "President's Election: Filing of nomination papers today". My Republica. Retrieved 2023-02-26.
10. "Four candidates file nomination for Vice President". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
11. "Ruling alliance and UML pick vice presidential candidates". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
12. "Astalaxmi Shakya files candidacy for Vice President". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
13. "UML lawmaker files complaint against vice-presidential candidate Ram Sahay Yadav". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
14. "Mamata Jha lodges complaint with Election Commission against Yadav". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
15. "Election Commission retains candidacy of Ram Sahay Yadav". kathmandupost.com. Retrieved 2023-03-12.
16. "प्रमिलाकुमारी यादवको उपराष्ट्रपति उम्मेदवारी फिर्ता गराउने तयारी". ekantipur.com (in Nepali). Retrieved 2023-03-12.
17. Republica. "Supporting Ram Sahay, Pramila Yadav withdraws her candidacy for vice presidency". My Republica. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
18. diwakar (2023-03-11). "Vice presidential election: UML fields Asta Laxmi Shakya as the ruling alliance prepares multiple nominations - OnlineKhabar English News" . Retrieved 2023-03-16.
19. Republica. "Mamata Jha is Janamat Party's candidate for vice president". My Republica. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
20. "Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav elected Vice President".
21. Republica. "Yadav elected as Nepal's new Vice President". My Republica. Retrieved 17 March 2023..