About

Name : Bidya Devi Bhandari

Date of Birth : June 19, 1961

Place of Birth : Manebhanjyang-2, Bhojpur, Nepal

Husband : Late Madan Kumar Bhandari

Father : Late Ram Bahadur Pandey

Mother : Ms. Mithila Pandey

Daughters : Ms. Usha Kiran and Dr. Nisha Kusum

Academic Qualification

Bachelor of Arts, Tribhuvan University, Nepal 

Positions Held

Member of Parliament in 1993, 1994 and 1999

Minister for Environment and Population in 1997

Minister for Defence from 2010 to 2012

Elected as the President of Nepal on October 28, 2015

Political Career

Member, Central Committee of Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) from 1997 to 2007

Vice Chairperson, Central Committee of Communist Party ofNepal (United Marxist-Leninist) from 2007-2015

Chairperson, All Nepal Women Association from 2007 to October 2015

Ms. Bidya Devi Bhandari has contributed a lot in ensuring the women rights and rights of the back-warded and marginalised people. She has played a key role to end the gender discrimination existing in the Nepalese society. As the result of her continuous advocacy for the equal rights to women, the present constitution has incorporated the provision of 33 percent participation of the women in all state structures of Nepal.

Ms. Bhandari is the wife of late Madan Kumar Bhandari, a dignified character in the Nepalese political history who was the General Secretary of Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist). Late Bhandari is known as the new Marxist philosopher of Communist movement in Nepal. He was the founder of the new dimension of Marxist ideology entitled People's Multiparty Democracy.