The National Assembly meeting on Friday slated the election for the upper house vice chair for February 6.

National Assembly chair Ganesh Timilsina directed the general secretary of the Federal Parliament Secretariat Bharat Raj Gautam to publish the election schedule.

The post has remained vacant after Shashi Kala Dahal of the Maoist Centre retired, completing her four-year tenure on March 5 last year.

Article 92 of the Constitution of Nepal states the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the National Assembly are elected within 15 days of the commencement of its first meeting. However, it doesn’t say when the election should be held if the positions become vacant in between.

Since the upper house chair is a male, now the vice chair must be a female as the Constitution has stated that there shall be one woman out of the chairperson and the vice-chairperson.

While the Constitution mandates the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker from different political parties, there is no such provision in the case of the upper house.