First woman deputy speaker dies

DHARAN, July 11: The first woman deputy-speaker of Nepal, Lila Shrestha Subba, died on Sunday morning at the age of 62. Subba, who was suffering from asthma for over a decade, died in her residence in Dharan.



Subba won the 1994 parliamentary elections for UML from Sunsari-1 and in 1996 became the first woman deputy-speaker of the lower house of parliament.



Born in 1948 in Taplejung district, she was active in student politics since early 1965. She was even thrown behind bars from time to time during the autocratic Panchayat regime for her pro-democracy ideals.



Meanwhile, caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Chairman of CPN-UML, Jhalanath Khanal, have expressed sorrow over her demise and have also extended condolence to her family.

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