Speaker Ghimire’s life full of sacrifice and struggle

January 23, Kathmandu: Devraj Ghimire, who has been elected the Speaker of the House of Representatives, is an honest political warrior who fought hard for the establishment of a democratic governance system in the country.

Ghimire was elected to the House of Representatives from Constituency No. 2 of Jhapa in the November 20 general elections. As a common candidate of the ruling alliance, he was elected Speaker by a majority of the House of Representatives today.

A resident of Arjundhara municipality-6 in Jhapa, Speaker Ghimire was born to Padam Prasad and Bhim Kumari Ghimire on 27 May 1956 in Sirijungha rural municipality-3 of Taplejung district.

He started his formal education from Singhdevi Primary School in the village and passed SLC from Bhanu Public High School in Taplejung and Proficiency Certificate level from Mahendra Multiple Campus in Sunsari.

He joined politics while studying at Trichandra College in Kathmandu after boycotting the then bourgeois education system at the call of the then CPN Revolutionary Coordination Committee.

Ghimire came in contact with the Communist Party of Nepal in the year 2031 B.S. and joined the coordination committee following the Jhapa revolt in the year 2032 B.S.

During the struggle against the then autocratic Panchayati regime, he was sentenced to prison and went exile several times.

Ghimire formally received the membership of the Communist Party of Nepal in the year 2035.

He is known as a dedicated, experienced and mature leader who has contributed to the party without expecting any returns.

He was the head of the organization department of Tehrathum and Panchthar districts of CPN-ML in 2035, the secretary of Ilam district in 2039, and the central member from the 5th national convention of CPN (UML) which was formed after the unification between CPN-ML and CPN-Marxist in 2049 B.S. Ghimire was in-charge of Mechi Zone of CPN (UML) in 2050 B.S., in-charge of Central Health Department in 2058 B.S., Chair of Province No. 1 of CPN formed after the merger between CPN (UML) and CPN (Maoist Center) in 2075 B.S.

He was elected the standing committee member and Province no. 1 in-charge from the 10th general convention of the CPN-UML held in Chitwan in 2078 B.S. Prior to being elected to the HoR in the latest general elections, Speaker Ghimire was elected a member of the National Assembly in 2056 B.S.

The 66-year-old UML lawmaker Ghimire was elected the Speaker of the House of Representatives with 167 votes cast in his favour while 100 votes were against the proposal to elect him to the prestigious post of the Speaker of the lower house of the parliament.

A total of 268 members took part in the voting today while one lawmaker remained neutral.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Ishwori Devi Neupane was also in the election race for the post of the Speaker, on behalf of the opposition alliance.