Rastriya Swatantra Party lawmaker Indira Rana Magar has been elected deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, defeating Mukta Kumari Yadav of the Nepali Congress.

Magar received 166 votes in the House where 264 lawmakers were present for voting. One needs to secure the support of 138 members in the 275-strong lower house to be elected. As many as 97 lawmakers stood against Magar, while Prem Suwal of the Majdoor Kishan Party stood neutral.

“As the proposal to elect lawmaker Indira Rana Magar as deputy Speaker received 166 votes, which is the majority of the House, she has been elected deputy Speaker,” announced Speaker Dev Raj Ghimire.

Magar’s nomination was proposed by Rastriya Swatantra Party lawmaker Sobita Gautam and was seconded by CPN-UML’s Krishna Gopal Shrestha, CPN (Maoist Centre) lawmaker Narayani Sharma and Rastriya Prajatantra Party lawmaker and Deputy Prime Minister Rajendra Lingden.

Magar is renowned for her advocacy to support access to education for children of inmates. She received Asia 21 Young Leader Public Service Award in 2009 and World Children’s Honorary Award in 2014 for her social work. She was featured in BBC’s 100 Women List in 2017.

The proposal calling to elect Mukta Kumari Yadav of the Nepali Congress was not put to vote.

Earlier on Thursday, CPN-UML lawmaker Dev Raj Ghimire was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, defeating Ishwari Neupane of the Nepali Congress.

The constitution makes it mandatory to elect a Speaker and a deputy Speaker within 15 days of the House’s first meeting.

As per Article 91 (2) of the statute, either the Speaker or the deputy Speaker must be a woman and from different parties. The Rastriya Swatantra Party had got the deputy Speaker’s portfolio in the power-sharing deal.