The government has a strategy of not convening a meeting of the Provincial Assembly until an agreement is reached among the ruling parties on the Speaker.
What you should know
The provincial government has begun preparations to convene the Bagmati Provincial Assembly meeting in the third week of December.
After opposition parties put pressure on the provincial assembly to convene the meeting, the provincial government is preparing to convene the meeting in the third week of Poush. 'Preparations are being made to hold the provincial assembly meeting by the third week of Poush,' said Bagmati Province Chief Minister Indra Bahadur Baniya. 'The provincial assembly hall is damaged due to vandalism and arson during the Genji movement. For now, employees have gathered to prepare to conduct the meeting temporarily from the assembly hall of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers' Office near the Hetauda Sub-metropolitan City Office.' According to him, the work of installing furniture, microphones, etc. will be completed there within a few days and the government is preparing to convene the meeting immediately.
'The deputy speaker and the chairmen of thematic committees under the provincial assembly have also gathered in discussions to prepare for the meeting,' said Chief Minister Baniya. 'They are holding regular discussions with leaders of various parties, we will also write to the provincial chief to call a meeting soon.' He said that the provincial assembly will then be held.
A few days ago, at the initiative of the Provincial Affairs Committee, a joint meeting of the Speaker, chairmen of various committees and officials of the Provincial Assembly Secretariat was held and the provincial government was urged to convene the provincial assembly meeting immediately.
'We held a meeting on our initiative and urged the government to proceed with the provincial assembly meeting,' said Provincial Affairs Committee Chairman Tshiring Dorje Lama, 'The government has also assured that it is preparing to convene the meeting, let's see if the provincial assembly meeting will be held soon.'
The opposition parties representing the Bagmati Provincial Assembly have been demanding the immediate convening of the provincial assembly, i.e. the winter session. They have warned that if it is not called, they will proceed as per the regulations.
The then Maoist Center and Hamro Nepali Party had met Chief Minister Baniya and urged him to convene the winter session of the provincial assembly immediately. The ruling Nepali Congress and the Nepal Communist Party (UML) have been claiming the vacant Speaker post of Bagmati Province.
The Speaker post of Bagmati Province Assembly Bhuwan Kumar Pathak, who announced his resignation on social media during the Genji movement, submitted his written resignation on Asoj 1. The Bagmati Province Assembly has not been able to hold a meeting for the past four months after both the ruling parties claimed the vacant Speaker post.
On the government's recommendation, Province Chief Deepak Prasad Devkota had ended the Provincial Assembly session from the night of Mangsir 30. However, it is estimated that the government may not have called the meeting since there was no agreement between the two ruling parties on the vacant Speaker post. There is a legal provision to select the Speaker within 15 days of calling a Provincial Assembly meeting. Therefore, the government has a strategy of not calling a Provincial Assembly meeting until the ruling parties reach an agreement on the Speaker.
