The Parliament Secretariat has started preparations for holding a new session of the federal parliament as the date for the government’s policies and programmes and the pre-budget discussion nears.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly chairperson have directed the secretariat to arrange seats for the lawmakers, maintaining adequate distance between them. The secretariat has also been asked to make available masks to every lawmaker and ensure there is a disinfection chamber at the entrance to the parliament building.

Last year the budget session of the federal parliament started on April 29 and the government's policies and programmes were presented by President Bidya Devi Bhandari on May 4. And three weeks’ time was allocated for the discussion and endorsement of the policies and programmes, and the pre-budget deliberation. The constitution makes it mandatory to table the budget in the federal parliament on the 15th of Jestha (mostly on May 29) of the Nepali calendar.

“We have already started the preparations. The seat arrangement will be done in the next ten days,” Gopal Nath Yogi, acting general-secretary at the parliament secretariat, told the Post. He said the seating arrangements are being made in a way that leaves one seat empty between two lawmakers. The Lower House, which housed 601 members of the Constituent Assembly, has 542 seats while there are over 100 seats in the audience balcony, he said.

Yogi said there are enough seats for both the Houses to run individual meetings so their only concern is arranging the seats for joint meetings. Both the House of Representatives and the National Assembly have a joint meeting when the President presents the government’s policies and programme and the finance minister presents the national budget. Yogi said seats will be added while the audience balcony could also be used if needed.

The joint session has 334 members—275 in the Lower House and 59 in the Upper House. Among them, four lawmakers have been suspended while the Speaker and the chairperson of the National Assembly sit at the dais. The secretariat, therefore, has to manage the seats for 328 lawmakers.

“The parliament building will be ready to host the new session by May 2,” he told the Post.

However, the government is still undecided on the new session. The President, on the government’s recommendation, calls the House session. Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Shiva Maya Tumbahamphe said the new session will be called but the date will depend on how well the Covid-19 crisis is managed.

“We haven’t yet decided the date but the government is working on the new budget to be presented on the stipulated time,” she told the Post. Asked if it was possible, she said the national budget could also be presented through an ordinance. “We are hoping the ongoing pandemic will be contained and the House meetings can be held without fear.”

Leaders of the main opposition party say they are pressuring both the Speaker and the government for timely commencement of the new session. Nepali Congress whip Pushpa Bhusal said her party has asked Speaker Agni Sapkota for an all-party meeting to pressurise the government for the new session.

“The government undermined the House by issuing two ordinances at a time when it was supposed to call a new session,” she told the Post. “We don’t want the budget to be presented through an ordinance.”

She said it is important that meaningful pre-budget discussions are held so that an appropriate budget is presented to deal with the present crisis. Also, the House session is necessary for discussing the two ordinances—related to political parties and the Constitutional Council, she said.

The government needs to table the ordinances within 60 days of the commencement of the House session.

According to Nepali Congress chief whip Bal Krishna Khand, the meeting of the opposition parties held on Wednesday also demanded timely beginning of the House session.

“The meeting concluded that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is taking an autocratic path and the House is necessary to check it,” he told the Post. He said the opposition parties will start the agitation if Oli doesn’t withdraw the ordinance immediately.