Rabindra Prasad Adhikari

Rabindra Prasad Adhikari (Nepali: रबिन्द्र प्रसाद अधिकारी) (4 May 1969[1] – 27 February 2019) was a Nepali politician and three-time parliamentarian, belonging to the Nepal Communist Party (NCP). He was Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation from 16 March 2018 until his death in a helicopter crash in February 2019.[2] He was the Kaski District secretary of the party.[3] In the 2008 Constituent Assembly election, Adhikari was elected from the Kaski-3 constituency, with 13,386 votes.[4] In the 2013 Constituent Assembly election, he was re-elected from the Kaski-3 constituency, with 15,456 votes.[5] In 2017, CPN-UML candidate Rabindra Adhikari won parliamentary elections from Kaski Constituency No. 2. Representing the left alliance, Adhikari secured 27,207 votes to defeat Nepali Congress candidate Dev Raj Chalise, who got 18,661 votes.[6] After his demise, his wife Bidya Bhattarai won Kaski Constituency-2 with a wide margin of 8,403 votes in the by-election. Bhattarai secured 24,394 votes, while her nearest contender Khem Raj Poudel from the main opposition Nepali Congress got 15,991. Socialist Party's Dharma Raj Gurung got 1,922 votes.[7] He authored the books Constituent Assembly, Democracy and Re-structuring.

Rabindra Prasad Adhikari
रबिन्द्र प्रसाद अधिकारी
Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation
In office
16 March 2018 – 27 February 2019
PresidentBidhya Devi Bhandari
Prime MinisterKhadga Prasad Oli
Preceded byJitendra Narayan Dev
Succeeded byYogesh Bhattarai
Personal details
BornMay 4, 1969[1]
Bharat Pokhari, Nepal
DiedFebruary 27, 2019(2019-02-27) (aged 49)
Taplejung, Nepal
CitizenshipNepali
Political partyNepal Communist Party
SpouseBidya Bhattarai
RelationsMarried
ChildrenBiraj Adhikari, Sworaj Adhikari
Parent(s)Indra Prasad Adhikari
Laxmi Devi Adhikari
ResidencePokhara
Alma materTribhuvan University
Websitewww.rabindrafoundation.org

Political career

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He became president of Free Student Union of Prithivi Narayan Campus in 1993. He became national president of All Nepal National Free Students Union, the student wing of the communist party, in 1999.[citation needed]

He left CPN (UML) to join the breakaway Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist-Leninist) and rejoined following reunification.

After the 2nd Constituent Assembly Election, he became the chairman of the Development Committee of the Legislature Parliament.

Electoral history

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2017 House of Representatives Election, Kaski-2[8]

Party Candidate Votes Status
CPN-UML Rabindra Prasad Adhikari 27,207 Elected
Nepali Congress Dev Raj Chalise 18,661 Lost

2013 Constituent Assembly Election, Kaski-3

Party Candidate Votes Status
CPN-UML Rabindra Prasad Adhikari 13110 Elected
Nepali Congress Soviet Bahadur Adhikari 10808 Lost

2008 Constituent Assembly Election, Kaski-3

Party Candidate Votes Status
CPN-UML Rabindra Prasad Adhikari 13386 Elected
CPN (Maoist) Jhalak Pani Tiwari 10926 Lost

1999 House of Representatives Election, Kaski-1

Party Candidate Votes Status
CPN-ML Rabindra Prasad Adhikari 1752 Lost (4th)
Nepali Congress Taranath Ranabhat 23939 Elected

Corruption allegations

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The subcommittee formed by the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives to probe the Nepal Airlines wide body aircraft purchase concluded that he was complicit in corruption.[9][10] He died while the matter was being investigated by the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority.

Death

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Rabindra Prasad Adhikari, along with six other people, died in a helicopter crash while returning from Pathibhara Devi Temple, Taplejung, Nepal, on 27 February 2019.[11][12]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Biography of Rabindra Adhikari". rabindraadhikari.com. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
  2. ^ "PM inducts 15 members to cabinet". My Republica. 2018-03-17. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
  3. ^ "CMF... A window to Nepal". Retrieved 2018-09-08.
  4. ^ "Constituent Assembly 2008 Election report". 2008-04-21. Archived from the original on 2008-04-21. Retrieved 2017-07-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  5. ^ "Welcome to Election Commission of Nepal". www.election.gov.np. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
  6. ^ "UML's Rabindra Adhikari elected to parliament from Kaski". 9 December 2017.
  7. ^ "NCP's Bhattarai emerged victorious in Kaski constituency-2". 8 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Kaski : Province 4 - Nepal Election Latest Updates and Result for Federal Parliament". Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  9. ^ "PAC panel faults Minister Adhikari, others in wide-body scam". My Republica. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
  10. ^ Satyal, Manoj. "Minister Adhikari complicit in wide-body corruption, moral responsibility of two predecessors : Subcommittee". Setopati. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
  11. ^ Steinmetz, Juergen T. (2019-02-27). "Nepal Tourism Minister Rabindra Adhikari among dead: What happened?". Travel News | eTurboNews. Retrieved 2019-11-05.
  12. ^ Bhandari, Rajneesh; Sharma, Bhadra (2019-02-27). "Nepal Helicopter Crash Kills 7, Including Tourism Minister". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-11-05.