KATHMANDU: The chair that Dol Prasad (DP) Aryal sat in when he began presiding over sessions the day after being elected Speaker of the House of Representatives on 5 April 2026 was the same as those of the other lawmakers. In the past, a slightly more comfortable and special chair was used for the Speaker. That practice had continued even until just before this election of the Speaker.

But this time, with the new parliament in place, the Federal Parliament Secretariat, at Speaker Aryal’s own request, arranged identical chairs for the Speaker and the lawmakers.

When news came about the changed chairs in the House of Representatives hall, social media was filled with praise for Speaker Aryal’s simplicity. He came to be widely discussed as an ideal figure.

DP Aryal (right) during the oath-taking ceremony as Speaker. Photos: Bikram Rai/Nepal News

But looking at his past, Speaker Aryal’s image is not as shining as it has been made out to be. Allegations ranging from misappropriation of cooperative funds to cheating students through manpower businesses have been leveled against him. This controversial background has raised questions about the dignity of the Speaker’s position and the impartiality of Aryal’s conduct in the House.

Aryal remains affiliated with various businesses, and he has yet to announce his withdrawal from them after becoming Speaker. Concerns have also been raised that his business background could create conflicts of interest in the laws and regulations parliament will enact.

A leap from business to politics

Aryal, who came to Kathmandu at the age of 18 from Maidi in Dhading around 1992, worked in a restaurant in his early days. A while later, he worked as a tourist guide, and in 1996 went to Japan for employment.

In the House of Representatives election held a few months after the party’s founding in 2022, the RSP won 20 seats to become the fourth force in parliament. In the process, Aryal became a lawmaker through the proportional representation Khas-Arya quota. When the RSP joined the coalition government, he was given the responsibility of Minister for Labor, Employment and Social Security.

As the RSP’s influence grew in the changed political environment following the Gen Z movement of September 8 and 9, 2025, Aryal too appeared stronger. After being elected from Kathmandu-9 in the March 5 House of Representatives election, his political stature rose further. When the RSP won nearly a two-thirds majority in the election, he became even more influential within the organization.

When Lamichhane was arrested and jailed after being implicated in the citizenship and cooperative fraud cases, the party’s leadership rested on Aryal’s shoulders. According to RSP leaders, he saved the party from crisis by taking on the responsibility of acting chairperson.

DP Aryal after being elected to the post of Speaker.

Having served as a lawmaker and minister, Aryal was finally elected to the highest position in the House of Representatives – the speakership – on 5 April 2026. Such success achieved within just four years of entering politics is not available to just anyone. But alongside this political success, his controversial past has placed the role Speaker Aryal will play in parliament under scrutiny.

A controversial background

Aryal was vice-chairperson of ‘Hamro Naya Krishi Sahakari’ from 2020 to 2022. Signs of financial irregularities within the cooperative had already emerged during his tenure. It appears that depositors of the cooperative, led by Surya Gurung, filed complaints at the Department of Cooperatives around 2022. However, since the complaints were small in number at that time, Aryal and other board members took them as routine matters.

After that, Aryal brought Gitendra Babu (GB) Rai into the cooperative. Rai is a well-known figure in cooperative fraud cases. Later, Aryal handed over the entire cooperative to Rai and entered politics. It was from this point that the savings of the cooperative’s depositors came under risk. Rai is the same person who is on the run on allegations that tens of millions of rupees from various cooperatives were misappropriated while running a television channel in partnership with Rabi Lamichhane. Lamichhane has been facing cases in the same cooperative fraud matter.

Depositors had already filed complaints at the Department of Cooperatives alleging that board members had misappropriated their funds. A demand that Aryal also be investigated for cooperative misappropriation was raised in parliament in 2022. He has continued to claim that he did not misappropriate funds. The Department of Cooperatives declared the cooperative – in which he served as vice-chairperson – as troubled in Magh 2080 BS (mid-January to mid-February 2024).

RSP’s general secretary and chief whip Kabindra Burlakoti was a member of that cooperative. Burlakoti and another RSP lawmaker Ganesh Parajuli are business partners of Aryal. Aryal and Parajuli are directors of Swayambhu Star Banquet. Aryal is the chairperson of this banquet. Similarly, Aryal and Burlakoti appear as partners in Sumire Tours and Travels and Nagarik Tech Pvt. Ltd. According to records filed at the Company Registrar’s Office on 22 March 2021, Aryal is the chairperson of Sumire Tours.

Looking at the records of the Department of Industry and the Company Registrar’s Office, Aryal is affiliated with Yojala Nepal, JS Investment Company, and People Investment Company. He is also the founder of Palika Capacity Development Center.

Uttam Adhikari, who served as secretary of Hamro Naya Krishi Sahakari when Aryal was vice-chairperson, says the cooperative did not fall into crisis because of just one or two people. “From one general assembly to the next, the entire responsibility and authority of the cooperative rests with the board of directors,” he says, “the credit and blame for the cooperative reaching such a state falls on all of us officials who were on the board. If the cooperative became troubled, it is not a matter of responsibility falling only on the secretary, treasurer, or chairperson. It cannot be said that DP would have no responsibility.”

Aryal is also seen to have been connected to foreign employment and visa matters in the past. While he was working as International Market Director at Srishti Overseas Employment Service Pvt. Ltd., a fraud complaint was filed against the company. According to Department of Foreign Employment records, on 16 November 2014, a compensation claim was filed against the company on charges of defrauding seven workers under the pretext of sending them to Malaysia. Although Aryal did not invest directly in the company, it is understood that he played the role of an agent.

He was seen to have played the role of coordinating with agents and facilitating contact with the Japanese side as the same company sent workers to Japan through the Japan International Training Co-operation Organisation (JITCO).

Aryal was appointed Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Security in the government led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal on 17 January 2023. At that time, the government was criticized for increasing the influence of interest groups within the ministry by making a person connected to manpower, consultancy, and remittance businesses the labor minister.

Questions had also been raised about the property disclosure Aryal made when he became minister. In the property disclosure, he had listed land worth Rs 52.8 million in 12 locations including Kathmandu and Bhaktapur, a house in Kathmandu, 10 tola of diamonds, 150 tola of gold, 100 tola of silver, and cash in bank accounts. He had stated that the property was accumulated through personal earnings and business. At that time, voices were raised that his property should be investigated.

After becoming Speaker, however, Aryal has not submitted a property disclosure. Speaker’s Chief Personal Secretary Muna Kunwar says Speaker Aryal is preparing to submit the property disclosure to the Federal Parliament Secretariat within a day or two.

Those knowledgeable in parliamentary affairs say questions remain about the dignity of the Speaker’s position and potential conflicts of interest in parliamentary work, given Speaker Aryal’s continued involvement in various businesses.

After returning from nearly eight years in Japan, Aryal ventured into businesses including remittance, manpower, tourism, cooperatives, and education. He became the CEO of EasyLink Remittance. He ran a company called Sumire Tours and Travels. He invested in educational institutions such as Yokohama Japanese Language Academy and Hems School. He became chairperson of Jansagar Savings and Credit Cooperative. He became vice-chairperson of Hamro Naya Krishi Cooperative.

It was while he was increasing his activity in these business, commercial, and cooperative sectors that he entered politics. Aryal became founding vice-chairperson of the RSP, established on 21 June 2022 under the leadership of journalist Rabi Lamichhane.

In a short time in politics, Aryal extended his influence in party and parliamentary politics by making one leap after another. Having supported Lamichhane even before the party was established, Aryal continued to enjoy the patronage of being counted among Lamichhane’s trusted associates after entering politics.

There is an established understanding that the Speaker must be a person of integrity and that an uncontroversial individual must hold the position. Since the Speaker must remain neutral in parliament, there is a provision that upon assuming the post, even party membership must be relinquished. However, Speaker Aryal has not severed his ties with private businesses including manpower, consultancy, and hotels.

This has been raising concerns that Speaker Aryal could face conflicts of interest in parliamentary work including lawmaking. Senior Advocate Radheshyam Adhikari says such suspicion is natural. “The Speaker must be uncontroversial and of strong integrity. Looking at the current Speaker’s background, that does not appear to be the case,” he says, “It is natural that questions are raised about his role.”

Speaker Aryal’s Chief Personal Secretary Kunwar says the Speaker is seeking legal advice on the need to distance himself from sectors he is involved in. She says Speaker Aryal is alert to the question of conflicts of interest in parliament and remains committed to his impartial role. “Speaker Aryal has said he will perform an impartial role in parliament as prescribed by laws, acts, and regulations,” she says, “As far as the matter of conflicts of interest in parliament is concerned, the Speaker is clear on that, and he has said he will maintain impartiality.”

The Speaker under the test of integrity

Those knowledgeable in parliamentary affairs say questions remain about the dignity of the Speaker’s position and potential conflicts of interest in parliamentary work, given Speaker Aryal’s continued involvement in various businesses.

Hari Bhadur Thapa, a journalist experienced in parliamentary affairs, says the current Speaker’s background could give rise to the risk of conflicts of interest. He says doubts have arisen about Speaker Aryal’s parliamentary performance due to his business and controversial background. “With a few exceptions, past Speakers had long political backgrounds and images of strong integrity, which commanded a different kind of respect and esteem, but that is not seen now,” he says, “The current Speaker’s background appears more business-oriented than political. One cannot say that conflicts of interest will not arise in the days ahead.”

Thapa says that if a person with a political and legal background and strong integrity becomes Speaker, an influential role in the House will be seen.

As Thapa noted, in 1959, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai of the Nepali Congress was Speaker. Because of the impartiality of Bhattarai, a leader of the 1951 revolution, his speakership was effective to the extent that even the opposition found no grounds to raise questions about his performance.

Gen Z activists are also dissatisfied that a person with a controversial background has reached the highest position in parliament – the speakership – following the Gen Z movement that demanded good governance and transparency.

In the 1991 House of Representatives, Nepali Congress lawmaker Daman Nath Dhungana was Speaker. Thapa says he proved himself in the speaker’s role due to his subject expertise and political and legal background, having been involved in the 1990 constitution-making process. Dhungana’s impartial role in giving space to the opposition in the House used to irritate his own party, the Nepali Congress. “Nepali Congress lawmakers themselves would criticize Speaker Dhungana at the time for listening too much to the opposition,” Thapa says, “His conviction was that parliament belongs to the opposition too, and their voice must be strong.”

Later, Subash Nembang also played a balanced role as chairperson of the Constituent Assembly and Speaker of parliament. He is remembered as an ideal Speaker due to his balanced and pragmatic role in parliamentary processes.

Aryal, however, has become an exceptional Speaker in that he comes from a business background. None of the previous Speakers had any connection to business.

Thapa says political standing, high integrity, and legal knowledge are also necessary in a Speaker, and parliament’s dignity is maintained through these qualities. “If an experienced, morally upright, and somewhat senior person becomes Speaker, the character of parliament is different,” he says.

Gen Z activists are also dissatisfied that a person with a controversial background has reached the highest position in parliament – the speakership – following the Gen Z movement that demanded good governance and transparency.

Gen Z activist and advocate Tanuja Pandey says it is unfortunate that those going into the parliament and government born of the post-movement election are not seen to be more ethical, impartial, and accountable than before. “From both a legal and ethical perspective, to ensure impartiality when assuming the post of Speaker or Deputy Speaker, even party membership should be relinquished. But now, questions have been raised about impartiality due to the Speaker’s controversial background.”