Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal proposed Bhandari’s name for the election while nine others, including Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal chairman Kamal Thapa and Madhesi Janadhikar Forum-Loktantrik chairman Bijay Kumar Gachhadar, seconded it.
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The president is the ceremonial head in Nepal while the prime minister is the nation’s leader.
Vidya Devi Bhandari from the ruling CPN-UML was today elected as Nepal’s first woman President after she defeated her rival from Nepali Congress by more than 100 votes.
He was elected as the first president in 2008 following the abolition of a 240-year-old Hindu monarchy. She had also elected as the member of the parliament in 1994 and 1999 as well.
A former defence minister, Bhandari is a cancer survivor and widow of late communist leader Madan Bhandari, who died in 1991 in a yet unexplained road accident. Yadav was initially supposed to be in office for two years, but the constitution took seven years to be prepared and adopted because of differences between political parties. The agitating Madhesi Front claims that the Constitution does not guarantee enough rights and representation to the Madhesi and Tharu communities residing in southern Nepal. But it has instead sparked deadly violence. But power-sharing squabbles between parties stymied progress.
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The new constitution adopted last month also says women need to be included in all government committees and assemblies including parliament and state assemblies.
