The first session of the Federal Parliament after the election to the House of Representatives is beginning on Thursday. On the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, President Ram Chandra Poudel has called for the first meeting of both houses of the Federal Parliament at 2 pm.

At the beginning of the first meeting of the House of Representatives, senior member Arjun Narsingh KC will read out the text of the letter received from the President regarding the convening of the session. After that, the House will be informed that President Poudel has appointed Balendra Shah as the Prime Minister.

The House will also be informed about the ministers in the Shah-led cabinet. After that, KC, who is in the role of Speaker, will place a proposal in the House for approval to conduct the business of the Parliament in accordance with the House of Representatives Rules, 2079 BS until the House of Representatives formulates new rules.

The rules provide for the nomination of MPs to preside over the meeting of the House of Representatives in the absence of the Speaker. Accordingly, KC will nominate MPs to preside over the meeting in the absence of the Speaker.

There is a provision in the regulations to nominate MPs to preside over the House of Representatives meeting in the absence of the Speaker. Accordingly, KC will nominate MPs to preside over the meeting in the absence of the Speaker. The agenda for political party leaders to address the issue of the start of the session has been set by a meeting of the six political parties represented in the House of Representatives. The all-party meeting held on Wednesday also set the date for the Speaker election. According to which, the election for the Speaker will be held next Sunday. 

‘The proposal regarding the election of the Speaker will be presented in the first meeting of the House of Representatives. The schedule for registering nominations for the Speaker has been made on Friday,’ said RSVP MP Kavindra Burlakoti. Spokesperson of the Parliament Secretariat Ekram Giri informed that the schedule for the Speaker election will be made public on Thursday. The constitution provides that the Speaker and Deputy Speaker must be elected within 15 days of the start of the first session after the election.

Article 91 of the Constitution provides that ‘the members of the House of Representatives shall elect the Speaker and Deputy Speaker from among themselves within 15 days of the commencement of the first meeting of the House of Representatives.’ There is a constitutional provision that one of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives should be a woman and should belong to different parties.

The Constitution states, ‘However, in cases where more than one party is not represented in the House of Representatives or where there is representation but no candidacy is filed, there shall be no impediment to a member of the same party becoming the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.’ After setting the date for the election of the Speaker, Home Minister Sudhan Gurung will present three ordinances in the meeting on Thursday itself.

These include the Voters’ Roll (First Amendment) Ordinance, the Election of Members of the House of Representatives (First  Amendment) Ordinance, and the Nepal Special Service (Second Amendment) Ordinance. After that, senior member KC will propose former MPs Hrishikesh Gautam,  Mohammad Aftab Alam, Amod Prasad Upadhyay, Homnath Dahal and National Assembly member Baldev Bohara will present a condolence motion on their demise. 

Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Sobita Gautam was present on behalf of the government in the all-party meeting held to set the agenda for the first meeting of the House of Representatives. From the political parties, DP Aryal, Kabindra Burlakoti, Bipin Acharya, Samiksha Baskota and Prakash Chandra Pariyar were present from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha.

Mohan Acharya and Urmila Thapaliya from the Congress, Ganesh Singh Thagunna and Guru Prasad Burlakoti from the UML, Barshaman Pun from the NCP, Aren Rai from the Shram Sanskriti Party and Khusbu Oli from the RPP were present. There are 182 MPs from the RPP in the 275-member House of Representatives. There are 38 MPs from the Congress, 25 from the UML, 17 from the NCP, 7 from the Shram Sanskriti Party and 5 from the RPP. Mahabir Pun is the lone independent MP in the House of Representatives. 

National Assembly without ruling party  The National Assembly has become without a ruling party for the first time. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which formed the government by winning about two-thirds of the seats in the House of Representatives, is not represented in the National Assembly. In the meeting of the National Assembly Business Management Advisory Committee on Wednesday, there was a discussion on how to manage the seats in the absence of a ruling party. 

It has been agreed that ministers will sit in the National Assembly Vice-Chairman's seat and the remaining seats will be managed according to party status. There are 24 members of the Congress in the National Assembly, 17 of the NCP, 10 of the UML, 3 of the JSP Nepal (including Mahantha Thakur), 1 of the Janamorcha and 2 nominated by the President (including the National Assembly Speaker). One seat to be nominated by the President is vacant.