The Rastriya Swatantra Party is going to pick senior leader Balendra Shah as its parliamentary party leader, prior to his appointment as prime minister.

Shah is all set to take his oath on Friday at Sheetal Niwas from President Ramchandra Paudel at a special function also marked with Hindu rituals.

The RSP central committee is scheduled to meet on Thursday after lawmakers’ swearing-in. The meeting will announce Shah as the party's parliamentary leader, RSP leaders said.

The meeting will take place after all newly elected 265 Members of Parliament will take oath from Speaker Arjun Narsingh KC.

KC on Wednesday took his oath as interim speaker with President Ramchandra Paudel. KC will serve as Speaker until a new one is elected. He is the oldest member of Parliament among those elected from the March 5 vote.

As per the RSP charter, only the parliamentary party leader can become the prime minister.

As per the agreement between RSP President Rabi Lamichanne and Shah on December 28, the party is going to officially prepare Shah for the role with the vote of its 182 House members.

Rabi Lamichhane will continue to serve as the Rastriya Swatantra Party's central chairperson, and Balendra Shah will be the parliamentary party leader and future prime minister candidate following the House of Representatives election, reads Point 4 of their agreement.

According to RSP leaders, Shah is going to take the prime ministerial oath in a different way. As Shah and his family are deeply religious and trust in astrology, he is going to make his oath ceremony different from the swearing-ins of the past prime ministers.

According to Kabindra Burlakoti, the general secretary of the party, during the oath taking ceremony at 12:34 (it counts like 1234), seven conch players will carry out the Shankha Naad, a special ritual performed at the start of a grand ceremony with the belief that any work done will be successful.

Simultaneously, other rituals will continue while he takes the oath. The 108 Batuks (vedic priests) will recite Swasti Shanti and another 16 Buddhist monks will recite the Ashtamangala. Both are considered auspicious in Hindu and Buddhist traditions. Later the prime minister will administer the oath of office and secrecy to his Cabinet members. The new prime minister will assume the office at Singha Durbar at approximately 2:15pm, said Burlakoti.

But some people have criticised the idea of taking oath by determining the timing as per an astrological alignment.

After news broke out that Shah is taking his oath with religious fervour, outgoing Finance Minister Rameshore Khanal wrote on Facebook expressing his dislike for the tradition of taking the oath based on an astrologically determined “auspicious time”.

“We didn’t even have the luxury or time to consult such timings! Yet, for the first time in history, a fair election was successfully conducted!”

Though the incoming prime minister plans to appoint a Cabinet on Friday itself, the party has not finalised the names of ministerial candidates. On Wednesday, Shah, Lamichhane and party vice-president Swarnim Wagle met and discussed possible names for ministerial roles.

RSP leaders told the Post that besides Wagle, Sishir Khanal, DP Aryal, Amresh Kumar Singh, Sasmit Pokharel, Dr Toshima Karki, Sabita Gautam, Dr Lekhjung Thapa, Dipak Bohora, KP Khanal, Manish Jha, Dhananjya Regmi, Indira Rana and Bablu Gupta are among the probable candidates. By Thursday evening, the picture will be clear, the RSP leaders said. The party will also fix the name of the Speaker and other candidates for key parliamentary positions.

Leaders are still discussing the names, said Sishir Khanal, who is tipped to become the foreign minister.