Eight days after being appointed ceremonial heads of the provinces, governors from four provinces have called the first meeting of their provincial assemblies, formally operationalising the historic provincial legislatures.

Governors from provinces 2, 3, 4 and 7 have scheduled the first assembly meeting for the first week of February while others are making preparations for convening the sessions.

Ahead of others, Governor Anuradha Koirala has called the first assembly meeting for February 1 in Hetauda, the temporary headquarters of Province 3. Governors have the constitutional authority to call and end sessions of provincial assemblies. Article 183 of the Constitution of Nepal requires the first provincial assembly meeting to be called within 20 days of the election results. The Election Commission on January 17 made public the final results of the assemblies, the same day the Cabinet appointed the governors and announced the temporary headquarters of the seven provinces. This means the first meeting should be held by February 6 in all the provinces.

The first meeting of provinces 2 and 7 will be held on February 4 while Province 4 will have its first meeting on February 5. “The date and time for the first meeting have been announced. Officials from the Parliament Secretariat will take care of the further process,” Principal Secretary Laxmi Poudel, the head of bureaucracy in Province 7, told the post.

The process to appoint chief ministers begins after the first meeting, as required by the constitution to elect the provincial chief executive within 30 days of election results. Chief ministers’ elections have to conclude by February 15.

The assemblies then elect the speaker and deputy speaker, as provisioned in Article 182 of the constitution, within 15 days of the first Provincial Assembly meeting.