The newly-elected members of the Karnali Provincial Assembly took the oath of office and secrecy on Monday afternoon.

Sixty-six-year-old Binod Kumar Shah, the senior-most member of the Assembly, administered the oath to provincial lawmakers at the Assembly building.

Shah was administered the oath of office and secrecy by the Head of Province Tilak Pariyar at the latter’s office in the morning.

Shah has been elected from Dailekh 2 (B) and is the president of UML’s Karnali Provincial Committee.

In the 40-member Assembly, Nepali Congress constitutes 14, CPN (Maoist Centre) 13, CPN-UML 10 and Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Unified Socialist and independent one each.

Article 179 of the Constitution provides that the members of the Provincial Assembly must take an oath in accordance with the provincial law before participating in the meeting of the Provincial Assembly or any of its committees for the first time.

Similarly, Clause (5) of Article 182 of the Constitution stipulates that in the event that there is no election of the Speaker of the Provincial Assembly or the Deputy Speaker of the Provincial Assembly or when both positions are vacant, the chairmanship of the Provincial Assembly meeting shall be held by the senior member in terms of age.

According to Article 19 of the 2018 Act on Remuneration and Benefits of Officials and Members of the Provincial Assembly, members of the Provincial Assembly must take an oath before the person who presides over the Provincial Assembly before participating in the meeting of the Provincial Assembly or any of its committees for the first time. However, according to Article 182 (5) of the Constitution, the member presiding over the assembly must take an oath before the head of the province.

According to Article 183 of the Constitution, the provincial head must convene the session of the Provincial Assembly within 20 days of the announcement of the final result of the elections.