Bishnu Pratap Shah

Bishnu Pratap Shah, a well known personality in the service sector of Nepal represented in his lifetime the cause of good governance in his own way. He served in different capacities and rose to the higher positions through his dedication to work, talent and capability. Shah, who had been appointed to important positions of Zonal Commissioner and Government Secretary during the party-less Panchayat era, also succeeded in getting higher position of the Chief Election Commissioner after the restoration of democracy in 1990, on the basis of his personal integrity and dedication to work. He had won the heart of the Nepalese readers through his thought provoking write-ups published in Kantipur daily from time to time. In one such article he had underlined the need to hold Constituent Assembly elections, long before the peace process was initiated as he had already smelt the root cause of the Maoist insurgency. In fact, he was not only an efficient administrator and honest civil servant, but also a person with diverse personality and vision.

Shah had received Master's Degree from Michigan State University in Anthropology. Shah started his career in civil service as the publicity officer of the then Election Commission in 1958 B.S. and served under different capacities including district Panchayat Secretary, Palpa, Chief District Officer of Gorkha, Syangja and Sunsari, Deputy Director General of Radio Nepal, Joint Secretary in different government offices including the National Planning Commission, Zonal Commissioner of Bagmitati Zone and Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Information and Communication, and the Prime Minister's Office. He also served as the first Chief Election Commissioner of Nepal after the restoration of democracy in 1990. He had also served as board of director of different organizations including Radio Nepal and also served as the first chairperson of the French owned Indosuez Bank in Nepal.

Shah steered the Election Commission so perfectly that it facilitated Nepal to hold Parliamentary, as well as local level elections on the basis of the principle of adult-franchise to the satisfaction of all the political parties and the mission of the Peoples Movement. He was Born in Maidi VDC Ward No. 2, Dhading district on 29th August 1937 to father Captain Lal Jung Shah and mother Subhadra Kumari. Shah was married to Ishwori Shah in 1971 and has a son Bimal Pratap Shah and a daughter Binita Shah (Khadka)and grandchildren Sivashish Pratap Shah and Biraj Khadka. Shah died on 29th April 2005.

Bishnu Pratap Shah, according to the Shah dynastic linkage tree, directly represents the 16th generation of the then King Dravya Shah, the first king of Gorkha and Shah is descendant of Chandrarup Shah and Chautariya Pushkar Shah. Chandrarup Shah was the youngest son of King Prithwi-pati Shah [1] and Queen Kulangavati. He was appointed as Regent for his nephew Maharaj Nara Bhupal Shah, while Chautariya Pushkar Shah was appointed to the post of Prime Minister in 1838.[13]