Mahasabha was the upper house of the bicameral parliament of the Kingdom of Nepal during 1959 - 1962. The Revolution of 1951 made the process to enact a new constitution, which was able to transfer all executive powers back to the Shah kings from Rana regime. King Mahendra was unable to resist the increasingly well-orchestrated political demands by the Nepali National Congress for a more democratic and representative government, and was forced to promulgate a new constitution. The Constitution of the Kingdom of Nepal, 1959 proclaimed on 12 February 1959, describes about Mahasabha as: "There shall be a Parliament which shall consist of His Majesty and two Houses, to be known respectively as the Senate and the House of Representatives " . The constitution of Kingdom of Nepal, 1959 lasted till 16 December 1962. On 16 December 1962, the new Constitution of Kingdom of Nepal, 1962 was proclaimed and the parliament of the Kingdom of Nepal became unicameral. Mahasabha couldn't continue more than two years.
Rastriya Panchayat
Rastriya Panchayat was a constitution introduce on December 16, 1962 by King Mahendra. A four-tier system of indirectly elected councils was established from the village to the national level. The Rastriya Panchayat declared Nepal a Hindu state. The people's movement of 1990 brought an end to absolute monarchy and Panchayat system.
Membership
The qualifications for being a member of National Assembly are laid out in Article 87 of the constitution and National Assembly Election Act, 2017:
must be a citizen of Nepal
must be at least thirty-five years of age on date of nomination
must have name listed on voter list
should not have been convicted of a criminal offense involving moral turpitude
Each of the seven provinces elects 8 members each and Government of Nepal nominates 3 members and recommends to the President for approval. The electoral college consists of members of the provincial assembly and chairperson/mayor and vice-chairperson/deputy mayor of the local bodies within the province. Each provincial assembly member's vote has a weightage of forty eight whereas each chairperson/mayor/vice-chairperson/deputy mayor's vote has a weightage of eighteen. Out of the eight members from each province, three must be women, one must be a Dalit, and one must be a disabled person or from a minority community. Each elector gets four ballots: one for the three open seats, one for the three female seats, one for the dalit seat and one for the disabled or minority seat. The three open seats and the three female seats are filled by single transferable vote, the two other seats by FPTP. The election is conducted by the Election Commission.
