The new government will be formed around Chaitra 15. To form a government in the 275-member House of Representatives, the support of 138 MPs is required for a simple majority.
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The Election Commission is set to submit a report on the results of the election of members of the House of Representatives held on 21 Falgun to the President on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Parliament Secretariat is preparing to hold the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected MPs on 12 Chaitra. It seems that it will take time to form a new government as the Rashtrapati Bhavan will elect the parliamentary party leader only after the MPs are sworn in.
The Commission has been given 4 pm time from the President's Office to submit the report. After that, the President will have to send the election results report to the Parliament Secretariat. The election results will be formalized only after the President's Office and the Parliament Secretariat receive the report. The Parliament Secretariat will proceed with the oath-taking process only after receiving the report from the Commission through the President's Office.
General Secretary of Parliament Padma Prasad Pandey said that the oath-taking ceremony will be called as soon as the Secretariat receives formal information about the election results. According to him, the oath-taking date will be fixed by giving all elected MPs the time it takes to reach Kathmandu. He said that the homework is to hold the oath-taking ceremony on 12 Chaitra, giving at least a week to reach Kathmandu for the oath-taking.
The Election Act of the House of Representatives stipulates that elected members of parliament must take an oath before the person presiding over the House of Representatives. Article 91(5) of the Constitution states that the presiding over the House of Representatives in the event that the Speaker and Deputy Speaker are not elected shall be the eldest member in terms of age among the members present. The Parliament Secretariat will identify the eldest member after receiving the report of the election results. After the eldest member takes the oath from the President, he will administer the oath to the elected members of parliament. The multi-purpose hall in the newly constructed Parliament Building is being prepared for the swearing-in ceremony of the members of parliament.
To form a government in the 275-member House of Representatives, the support of 138 members is required for a simple majority. Since the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) alone has 182 members of parliament, it has a comfortable majority. Article 76(1) of the Constitution stipulates that the President shall appoint the leader of the parliamentary party with the majority in the House of Representatives as the Prime Minister and that the Council of Ministers shall be formed under his chairmanship.
To form a government, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) must first select the leader of the parliamentary party. Party spokesperson Manish Jha said that the parliamentary party leader will be chosen only after the elected MPs take the oath. “First the oath is the natural process of forming a parliamentary party, and then only after the oath of office,” he told Kantipur. “The government formation process will move forward only after the oath of office in parliament.”
He mentioned that the appointment of a new Prime Minister and formation of the government should wait until the second week of Chaitra. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had entered the election by nominating Balendra (Balen) Shah as the future Prime Minister. The RSSSP’s statute provides for the election of the parliamentary party leader by the votes of all party members. Part 21 of the statute contains provisions related to the parliamentary party. Article 66(8)(a) thereof states that the leader of the parliamentary party of the House of Representatives shall be selected from among the candidates selected by the party for the federal election through proportional and direct selection before the federal election.
In the election to elect the parliamentary party leader, it is stated in (b) of the same article that all ordinary members of the party can be voters. Even though the party had named Balen Shah as the future Prime Minister before the election, it had not completed the process of selecting the parliamentary party leader as per the statute. Article 66(8)(f) states that if the proposed parliamentary party leader is defeated in the election before the election or if the post of parliamentary party leader falls vacant for any reason, an election will be held among the winning candidates from the party to select the parliamentary party leader in the House of Representatives.
There is a provision in the statute that all party members will be voters in that election as well. There has even been a debate within the RSVP that this provision of the statute should be amended. However, some leaders have also argued that the statute will not cause any difficulty since that provision of the statute has not been implemented in practice and since Rabi Lamichhane was also elected as the parliamentary party leader by the MPs earlier.
RSVP central member and elected MP Shishir Khanal says that the provision of the statute to select the parliamentary party leader through the vote of all party members has not been implemented in practice. 'That provision was included when the party was formed during its establishment, but it was not practical. "Even when choosing the leader of the parliamentary party after the 2079 elections, it was not used," he told Kantipur. "The party president at that time, Rabi Lamichhane, was elected as the leader of the parliamentary party from among the elected MPs."
He also said that the statute and working procedures of the parliamentary party are separate. He said that the statute did not pose any difficulty in choosing the leader of the parliamentary party as the Central Working Committee had already approved the 7-point agreement before the elections stating that Balen Shah would be the next Prime Minister and Rabi Lamichhane would lead the party. He said that the formation of the new government will proceed after that as the parliaments will be sworn in on Chaitra 12, he said.
Commission spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said that the programs related to the House of Representatives elections will be completed once the election results report is submitted to the President. He mentioned that the President's Office, Parliament Secretariat and political parties will have a role in the programs including the formation of the new government and the swearing-in of the MPs.
There is a program to give certificates to 110 members elected under the proportional electoral system on the commission premises on Thursday. 165 people who were directly elected have already received their election certificates from the election officer of the respective constituency. The election officer of the proportional electoral system is Krishna Bahadur Raut, the secretary of the commission. He will issue certificates to the proportional MPs.
In the House of Representatives, the RSVP has 182 seats, the Congress 38, the UML 25, the NCP 17, the Shram Sanskriti 7, the RPP 5 and the Independent 1 seat. RSVP spokesperson Jha said that there is no rush this time as there is no situation to form a coalition government like in the past. ‘We have a convenient majority, there is no need to deceive any party, there is no need to settle things,’ he said, ‘That is why there is no rush, we will enter the formation of the government after all the legal processes are completed.’
