As the Election Commission prepares to submit its report on the results of the House of Representatives elections to the President, the Federal Parliament Secretariat is busy with preparations from managing the meeting hall to orientation. The newly elected MPs are being prepared to be sworn in at the multipurpose hall of the under-construction building.

After distributing certificates to MPs elected through the proportional system, the Election Commission will submit the election report to President Ram Chandra Poudel. After that, the information about the MPs elected to the House of Representatives will reach the Parliament Secretariat. The President will call a session of Parliament on the recommendation of the government.

After the senior member of the House of Representatives takes the oath from the President, he will administer the oath to the MPs in the first meeting of Parliament. Until the election of the Speaker, the senior member will conduct the meeting of the House of Representatives. According to Article 91 of the Constitution, the members of the House of Representatives must elect the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives from among themselves within 15 days of the commencement of the first meeting.

According to the General Secretary of the Federal Parliament, Padma Prasad Pandey, preparations are also underway to provide orientation to the MPs. ‘Some of the honorable members are new while some are experienced, we have arranged for orientation for them,’ he said, ‘that includes how to enter the parliament, what the security arrangements are, what it is like, the rules of discipline of the parliament, the facilities provided by the parliament secretariat.’ He also informed that the secretariat will provide the MPs with the constitution, the rules of the House of Representatives, the laws of the federal parliament, books on parliament and other written materials.

The secretariat is also involved in the management of the parliamentary party. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has become the largest party in the House of Representatives with almost two-thirds of the seats. General Secretary Pandey informed that preparations are being made to manage the hall number two of the secretariat building in Singha Durbar, which was previously used by the then Maoists, for the RSSPA parliamentary party.

Preparations are being made to provide the Nepali Communist Party with the parliamentary party office that was previously used by the RSSPA. The parliamentary party offices of Congress and UML will remain in their previous locations. The Shram Sanskriti Party is preparing to give the parliamentary party office previously used by JSP or LOSPA. The RPP's parliamentary party office will remain the same. The secretariat has informed that parliamentary committee meetings will also be managed in the halls used in the past.

MPs will not get the facility of a personal secretary. Although they used to get the facility of a personal secretary similar to that of a branch officer in the past, the Sushila Karki-led government had removed the facility of a personal secretary. 'Since the government has abolished the facility of a personal secretary, there is no provision for them to get personal facilities as per the legal provisions,' said General Secretary Pandey.

Since the House of Representatives hall will not be ready, the Urban Development and Building Construction Department is preparing a multi-purpose hall as a temporary measure. The hall has a capacity of 300 people. Preparations are underway to hold meetings from that hall for some time.

Earlier, it was being considered whether the MPs could be arranged to take the oath at the National Assembly or the Academy. According to General Secretary Pandey, due to problems with the microphone and live broadcast, the oath-taking will be done at the multipurpose hall of the under-construction building. The Parliament Secretariat has stated that if the hall is not ready, the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker will also be held in the same hall. 'That hall also does not have many facilities, but we have made preparations to hold the assembly until the main hall is ready,' said General Secretary Pandey.

Informing that there is a constitutional provision that the President should address the first session of the House of Representatives after the election, General Secretary Pandey said that there may be some problems in that. According to him, arrangements should be made to accommodate 334 MPs during a joint meeting of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly. Officials of the Parliament Secretariat have informed that efforts are being made to immediately complete the construction of the hall, canteen and toilets to conduct the assembly in the new building.

Separate halls for the House of Representatives and the National Assembly are being constructed in Singha Durbar. Despite repeated requests from the Federal Parliament Secretariat to the Ministry of Urban Development to prepare the hall for the House of Representatives, the work has not been completed. According to Rabindra Bohara, Director General of the Building Construction Department, it will take another week to prepare a three-level 'false ceiling' at a height of 60 feet on the ceiling of the House of Representatives hall. 'As the House of Representatives meeting will be held in a few days, we are preparing a multipurpose hall with necessary facilities at the request of the Parliament Secretariat,' he said.

Federal Parliament Secretariat Spokesperson and Joint Secretary Ekram Giri informed that preparations are being made to conduct the new parliament meeting in the multipurpose hall as there is no alternative. 'There is a multipurpose hall on one of the floors of the road leading from the House of Representatives to the National Assembly,' he said, 'Parliament will be held there for some time now.' It seems that the Speaker's office will also be easily managed there. The meeting room for the business committee will also be there.'

According to spokesperson Giri, the hall will be ready within seven days. He also informed that work is being done to provide minimum services from the assembly hall that is currently being prepared. The Parliament Secretariat had been requesting the Ministry of Urban Development to prepare the building immediately after Dashain. The ministry had said that the building of the House of Representatives would be provided in the first week of Chaitra. But after the work was not completed, spokesperson Giri said that a multi-purpose building was ordered to be prepared so that meetings could be held on an emergency basis. 'The buildings of the parliamentary parties have not been ready either, the number of parties is less than before,' he said. 'There are two administrative buildings in the Parliament Secretariat complex, there are offices of some parliamentary parties, we are making arrangements to place them wherever possible.'

The contract was awarded on 16 Asho 2076 to complete the construction of the parliament building by 16 Asho 2079. The construction contract was awarded to Tundi-Sec JV for Rs 5.67 billion. At that time, the purpose was to hold the meeting of the House of Representatives, which would be formed after the 2079 elections, in the new building. But even after the next election, the building was not ready.

After the work was not completed within the initial deadline, the deadline was extended for the first time until 30 Chaitra 2079. The second time was until 19 Asoj 2080, the third time until 19 Chaitra 2080, the fourth time until 18 Chaitra 2081 and the fifth time until 16 Poush 2082. After the work was not completed, preparations are being made to extend the deadline for a short time again. So far, the construction progress is only 94 percent.

The parliament building is being constructed on an area of ​​156 ropanis in the Singha Durbar complex. The new building is up to five floors. The House of Representatives, the National Assembly Building, the 'Central Lobby', the office building for very distinguished persons, a library and a museum are being prepared there. The parliamentary party office building, parliamentary committee building, parliament secretariat building, canteen, press and printing building have been built separately. Infrastructure is being prepared to park 476 four-wheelers and 800 two-wheelers. A building to house security personnel has also been constructed.

A separate contract for ‘roofing’ has been taken by Chainlink Engineering Company for Rs 37.9 million. According to the contract signed on 27 Falgun 2080, the work has not been completed even though the deadline was till mid-Magh. KC-Shyamsundar-Baniya JV was responsible for ‘interior’. The contract amount for this is Rs 2.3454 billion. An agreement was signed on 17 Ashad 2080 to complete its work by Ashad 2081. Later, the time was extended to 16 Chaitra 2081, but after the work was not completed, the deadline was extended again to 16 Puush 2082.