Kathmandu, March 17
Five members of parliament with disabilities have been elected to the House of Representatives through the proportional representation system.
They include Ganga Chhantyal and Ramesh Prasai from the Rastriya Swatantra Party, Madan Krishna Shrestha from the Nepali Congress, Eshuda Kumari Baral from CPN-UML, and Prem Bahadur Bayak from the Communist Party of Nepal.
Among them, Prasai was elected under the Khas Arya male cluster, while the other four were selected under the disability cluster.
Former lawmaker and rights activist Prakash Pantha considers the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the House of Representatives through the proportional system as a significant policy achievement toward inclusive democracy. He said this is an important step toward increasing meaningful and effective participation of persons with disabilities in the House of Representatives, the National Assembly, and all seven provincial assemblies.
A few months ago, on the initiative of the National Democratic Disabled Association, a writ petition was filed in the Supreme Court by its president, Madhav Prasad Chamlagain, former president and current Nepali Congress central member Prakash Pantha, vice president Anita Ghimire, and general secretary Ganesh KC, among others. Hearing the petition, the court directed the Election Commission and relevant bodies to make necessary arrangements to ensure representation of persons with disabilities.
As a result of this order, political parties are now required to mandatorily include at least one person with a disability in their proportional representation list for the House of Representatives. Pantha described this as an important policy reform toward ensuring inclusive representation.
According to him, ensuring representation of persons with disabilities is also emphasised by international human rights standards and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which obliges the state to guarantee equal participation in political and public life.
