The first sitting of the Constituent Assembly (CA) unanimously declared Nepal a republic late on Wednesday night, with only four votes against the declaration. The CA, elected through the landmark election held last month, formally passed the proposal, bidding farewell to the only Hindu King of the world.
The former rebels, CPN-Maoists, won 220 seats in the April 10 ballot, Nepali Congress won 110 seats, while the CPN -UML secured 103 and the newly emerged party Madhesi People’s Rights Forum (MPRF), representing Madhes the country’s southern plains along the Indian border, won 52 seats.
The Shah Dynasty that unified and ruled Nepal for the last 240 years, often through bloodshed, came to a peaceful end on MAY 28, 2008. If the rise of the Shahs was spectacular, so was their downfall. In modern history, hardly any monarchy has been abolished either through the ballot or so peacefully.