# Bishnu Prasad Paudel

Bishnu Prasad Paudel (Nepali: विष्णुप्रसाद पौडेल) is a Nepalese politician, who is the vice-chairman of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist). Paudel served as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in the Third Dahal cabinet. He has earlier served as Deputy Prime Minister (2021), and headed other prominent Ministries such as Finance (2020-2021, 2015-2016), Home Affairs (2021), Industry (2021), Water (2021, 2008-2009, 1994-1999) and Defence (2011).
He is a member of the House of Representatives elected from Rupandehi district, Parliamentary Constituency 2, in the election of the Federal Parliament held in 2017. He won the election with a huge margin of 22,000 votes at that time. During the second Constituent Assembly Election in 2013, he defeated the former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai from Rupendehi 4.
Paudel previously successfully served as the Minister of Finance from 5 November 2015 to 1 August 2016 in the first cabinet of prime minister KP Sharma Oli. He also served as Minister of Defence from 6 February 2011 to 29 August 2011, under prime minister Jhala Nath Khanal and as the Minister for Water Resources from 18 August 2008 to 25 May 2009 under prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal. He has also served as the Minister for Youth, Sports and Culture in 1997 under prime minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand.

## Early life

Bishnu Prasad Paudel was born to Devilal Paudel and Devaki Paudel on 20 November 1959 in Syangja Nepal. He joined politics in 1976. During the Panchayat System in Nepal, he faced jail time. In 1977, he passed the SLC examination and moved to Rupendehi from Syangja to start the career as a Primary School teacher and he influenced by the communist activists. He resigned from the teaching profession and joined the Communist Party at the age of 18. Paudel broke the Bhairahawa Jail and went back to people's movement. Paudel was taken to Bhairahawa jail with three thousand rupees fine in charge of state of affairs after facing the case for 3 years. He revolted in the jail after 45 days comprehensive preparation.

## Political life

* Chief, Organization Department Communist Party of Nepal (UML) since April 2021
* General Secretary, Communist Party of Nepal (NCP) since 2018
* Deputy General Secretary, Communist Party of Nepal (UML), 2014 - 2018
* Secretary of Central Committee, Communist Party of Nepal (UML), 2009 - 2014
* Member of Standing Committee, Communist Party of Nepal (UML), 2003 - 2019
* Member of Central Committee, Communist Party of Nepal (UML) Since 1990
* Party Member of CPN (ML/UML) since 1977

## Electoral history

Paudel is a five time parliamentarian. He is one of the influential leader of Nepal Communist Party (UML). Currently, he is working as the Minister of Finance of the Government of Nepal. This is his third term as finance minister. He was elected from Palpa in the mid-term elections of 2051 and since then he has been contesting from Rupandehi in all the 5 elections. In which he was elected 4 times and was defeated once in 2056.He is among the very few leaders who have been elected many times in the elections of both the party and parliament under the leadership of CPN-UML. He was an elected member in the 2nd Constituent Assembly from Rupandehi when he competed against former Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai who came third. He won for fifth time from the Rupandehi 2 in 2022.
1994 Pratinidhi Sabha Election Palpa-3
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Status |
| CPN-UML | Bishnu Prasad Paudel | 15,766 | Elected |
| Nepali Congress | Hari Prasad Nepal | 12,697 | Lost |
1999 Pratinidhi Sabha Election Rupendehi-3
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Status |
| Nepali Congress | Surya Prasad Pradhan | 23,697 | Elected |
| CPN-UML | Bishnu Prasad Paudel | 23,033 | Lost |
2008 Constituent Assembly Election Rupandehi-4
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Status |
| CPN-UML | Bishnu Prasad Paudel | 15,880 | Elected |
| CPN (Maoist) | Bhakti Prasad Pandey | 13,421 | Lost |
2013 Constituent Assembly Election Rupandehi-4
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Status |
| CPN-UML | Bishnu Prasad Paudel | 19,577 | Elected |
| Nepali Congress | Surya Prasad Pradhan | 13,632 | Lost |
2017 Pratinidhi Sabha Election Rupandehi-2
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Status |
| CPN-UML | Bishnu Prasad Paudel | 44,009 | Elected |
| Nepali Congress | Yubaraj Giri | 21,946 | Lost |
2022 Pratinidhi Sabha Election Rupandehi-2
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Status |
| CPN-UML | Bishnu Prasad Paudel | 27,148 | Elected |
| Rastriya Swatantra Party | Ganesh Paudel | 25,781 | Lost |