26-year-old Rubi Kumari Thakur elected as Nepal’s youngest-ever Deputy Speaker

Kathmandu: Rubi Kumari Thakur, 26, has been elected as the Deputy Speaker of Nepal’s House of Representatives (HoR) on Friday, becoming the youngest person ever to hold the position as the country’s politics witnesses a generational shift.

A lawmaker in the lower house elected through the proportional representation system from the Shram Sanskriti Party, Thakur secured the post with backing from the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and other parties. Given that the RSP commands a nearly two-thirds majority in the lower house, its support proved crucial for her election.

Out of 256 lawmakers present in the House, Thakur secured 229 votes, while her rival Saraswati Lama from the Rastriya Prajatantra Party received five votes. A total of 22 lawmakers abstained from voting.

As per Nepal’s Constitution, either the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker must be a woman, and the two positions must be held by members of different political parties.

On April 4, Dol Prasad Aryal, a leader from the Rastriya Swatantra Party, was declared elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives after emerging as the sole nominee for the post.

Thakur, born in 2000 in Mujeliya, Dhanusha district, comes from a humble background. Her father, Sogarath Thakur, has been working as a migrant laborer in Saudi Arabia and is currently on leave at home. The newly-elected Deputy Speaker is one of the six children of Sogarath.

After completing the Secondary Education Examination (SEE) following Grade 10, she pursued a three-year diploma in civil engineering-related studies at Balara Polytechnic in Dhanusha. According to local media reports, she later worked for seven months at an architecture consultancy firm, earning a modest salary and sending part of her income home to support her family.

Her entry into politics was unexpected, as she was inspired by the political activities of Hark Sampang, who founded the Shram Shakti Party. She subsequently became actively involved in promoting his vision.

For the March 5 elections, Sampang, former Mayor of Dharan Municipality, nominated her as a proportional representation candidate from the Madhesi cluster, through which she was elected to the House, becoming one of the youngest lawmakers from her party.

IANS