Amid pressure from lawmakers from various political parties to convene Parliament's budget session, speaker Agni Sapkota met Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Wednesday to inform him that the legislature can meet by the first week of May.

During the meeting, Sapkota also reminded Oli about the government’s constitutional obligations to present its budget on May 28 and hold the pre-budget discussions before doing that.

After the meeting, Oli inspected the seating arrangements of both the Houses of Parliament to see how physical distancing measures were implemented.

Last year, the budget session of Parliament had started on April 29 and the government's policies and programmes were presented by President Bidya Devi Bhandari on May 4. Three week were allocated for lawmakers to discuss and endorse the policies and programmes.

The constitution makes it mandatory to table the budget in the federal parliament on the 15th of Jestha (May 28 this year).

Opposition parties have been pressuring the government to start the budget session at the earliest. A meeting of four opposition parties on April 22 had also demanded that Parliament be convened .

“Sapkota informed Oli that the parliament secretariat is ready to host the meetings by the time the lockdown is over,” Shreedhar Neupane, press advisor to Sapkota, told the Post. The government has extended the lockdown, aimed at containing Covid-19, till May 7.

Neupane said Oli, together with Sapkota and National Assembly chair Ganesh Timilsina and Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Shiva Maya Tumbahamphe inspected the halls of both the Lower and Upper Houses.

The president is to present the government’s policies and programmes to a joint session of Parliament, which has 334 members (275 in the Lower House and 59 in the Upper) Four lawmakers remain suspended while the Speaker and the chairperson of the National Assembly sit on the dais. The secretariat, therefore, has to manage seats for 328 lawmakers.

Officials at the secretariat say the seating arrangements are being made in such a way that a vacant seat shall separate two lawmakers when they are seated. The Lower House, which accommodated 601 members of the Constituent Assembly, has 542 seats while 450 seats are available in the audience balcony.

Gopal Nath Yogi, acting general secretary at the secretariat, said the new House session must commence by May 11. According to parliament regulations, the pre-budget discussion must be completed 15 days before the budget is presented and discussions should last for three-days. Therefore, the pre-budget discussion must start on May 11 to meet the legal obligation. “We are expecting the budget session commences either on May 10 or the next day,” he told the Post.

Last year the government’s policies and programme was presented before the joint session of the federal parliament prior to the pre-budget discussion. However, it is likely to be presented after the pre-budget discussion this year. He said that it was not possible for the government to present its budget through an ordinance.. “The constitution clearly says the government shall present the budget in the federal parliament on Jestha 15. Therefore, the government cannot do it through an ordinance,” he said.