CPN (Maoist Centre) lawmaker Urmila Aryal is set to be elected as vice-chairperson of the National Assembly unopposed. The Parliament Secretariat, however, is yet to make a formal announcement to this effect.

Aryal, who is a common candidate of the ruling alliance, is set to get elected as no other candidates challenged her candidacy. Her nomination was proposed by Maoist Centre’s member of the upper house, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, and seconded by CPN-UML’s lawmaker Devendra Dahal and Khim Lal Devkota, an independent member of the House.

The Nepali Congress-led opposition alliance which had earlier fielded candidates for Speaker and Deputy Speaker, however, didn’t challenge Aryal’s candidacy. The largest party in the House of Representatives that is trying to improve its relations with the ruling Maoist Centre has now adopted a strategy not to oppose Maoist candidates, both at provincial and federal levels.

“Only Aryal’s candidacy has been filed for the vice-chairperson position,” Ek Raj Giri, spokesperson at the secretariat, told the Post. “The proposal to elect her will be tabled in the House on Monday, where the chairperson will announce that she has been elected unopposed.”

Aryal started her politics from the UML. She was elected as a member of the lower house in 1999 from Parsa-4 and became the minister for women, children and social welfare, in 2006. She quit the UML and joined the Maoist Centre before 2013 Constituent Assembly elections.

Aryal contested the second Constituent Assembly elections from Parsa-5 on a Maoist Centre ticket, but lost. She was elected as a member of the upper house as a Maoist Centre candidate, last year.

The vice-chairperson’s position has been vacant since March 5, when Shashi Kala Dahal retired on completion of her four-year tenure. Officials say though Ganesh Timilsina, chairperson of the National Assembly, had drawn the attention of the parties not to delay the election of the vice-chairperson, it took almost a year for the election to be announced.

Article 92 of the Constitution of Nepal says the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the National Assembly are to be 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. The lawmakers from the ruling parties in the upper house say they have raised the issue with their party leadership. Article 92 (2) of the constitution says there shall be one woman out of the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the National Assembly.