Three months after elections, members of the federal parliament are taking their oath on Sunday, prior to convention of the first bicameral parliament in nearly two decades. President Bidya Devi Bhandari has summoned the parliament meeting on Monday.
Three months after elections, members of the federal parliament are taking their oath on Sunday, prior to convention of the first bicameral parliament in nearly two decades. President Bidya Devi Bhandari has summoned the parliament meeting on Monday.
Rastriya Janata Party, Nepal lawmaker Mahendra Raya Yadav will administer the oath of office to the House of Representatives (HoR) members at 4pm at the International Convention Centre in New Baneshwor. Nepali Congress lawmaker Tara Devi Bhatta will administer the oath to the National Assembly members at the Nuptse Hall at 5pm. Before that, Yadav and Bhatta, oldest members from their respective Houses, will take their oath from the President at Sheetal Niwas at 1pm.
According to records at the Election Commission, Yadav is 80 years old while Bhatta is 69. They will lead their Houses as the oldest members until the speaker of the chair are elected.
“Preparations for the historic event are over,” Bharat Raj Gautam, spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat, told the Post. The Lower House has 275 members, including RJP-N member Resham Chaudhary and CPN-UML winning candidate Nawaraj Silwal, who face criminal charges. Silwal attended the joint orientation for the UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre) members on Saturday while Chaudhary has written to the secretariat that he will take the oath in Tharu language.
In the NA, only 56 of the 59 members will attend the oath ceremony. Yubraj Khatiwada, Bimala Poudel Rai and Ram Narayan Bidari, who have been nominated as the Assembly members, will not be sworn in along with others as the Supreme Court has stayed their oath until a final verdict comes in a case challenging their nomination.
Records at the Parliament-Secretariat show that 42 lawmakers from both the Houses are preparing to take the oath in their mother tongues other than Nepali. They would be using Maithali, Hindi, Bhojpuri, Tharu, Magar Kham, Awadhi, Bajjika, Tamang and Urdu languages.
According to Spokesman Gautam, the Secretariat has called an all-party meeting on Sunday morning to decide the agenda for the first meeting.
The meeting will discuss the working procedure for the Houses, the dates for a vote of confidence in the government and the election of the Speaker and deputy Speaker of the HoR and the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the Assembly.
The parties have agreed to conduct the polls prior to the presidential election scheduled for March 13.
Binod Ghimire covers parliamentary affairs and human rights for The Kathmandu Post. Since joining the Post in 2010, he has reported primarily on social issues, focusing on education and transitional justice.
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