After Dol Prasad (DP) Aryal, vice-chair of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), filed the sole nomination for the vacant post of the Speaker of the House of Representatives on Friday, he is set to be elected unopposed for the position on Sunday.

As Aryal prepares to lead the House as its 10th Speaker, it will be the first time in 18 years that a non-communist figure has taken charge of the lower house. With this, there is growing interest in who will be chosen as deputy Speaker.

Article 91 of the Constitution of Nepal mandates that as specified in the House of Representatives Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, the House must elect a Speaker and a deputy Speaker, one of them a woman. “The Speaker and deputy Speaker must belong to different political parties,” reads Article 91 (2).

With Aryal of the RSP set to become Speaker, the deputy Speaker must be a woman.

Meanwhile, political parties that did not stake their claim for the Speaker’s position have said they will field candidates for the deputy Speaker.

Nepali Congress lawmaker Bhishma Raj Angdambe said his party would claim the post of deputy Speaker. “As the main opposition, our party will have a natural claim to the position,” he said.

Angdambe added that to maintain parliamentary integrity, once the Speaker comes from the ruling RSP, the deputy Speaker should come from the opposition.

The constitutional provision is for the Speaker and the deputy Speaker to be from different parties, not necessarily the main opposition.

The Shram Sanskriti Party (SSP), which emerged as the fifth largest party from the March 5 election, also has staked its claim to the deputy Speaker of the House.

Party chair Harka Sampang Rai wrote on Facebook on Saturday that his party will field a female candidate for the deputy Speaker position.

Hinting at the RSP, the largest party in the lower house with 182 seats, Rai expressed confidence that the party, which brands itself as ‘new,’ would support their candidate.

“We have already congratulated the Speaker on being elected unopposed. Now that the election for deputy Speaker is approaching, we will be fielding a woman candidate. Let’s see whether the ‘new’ [RSP] supports a new or backs the same old forces again. Will we get seven votes, or 189?”

In Parliament, the RSP holds 182 seats, while the Congress has 38, the UML 25, the Nepali Communist Party (NCP) 17, the SSP 7, and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) 5.

As RSP’s support is essential to secure a majority, leaders from both the NCP and the SPP say they are currently consulting with the RSP on the election of deputy Speaker.

However, a leader from the NCP said that even if his party fields a candidate for deputy Speaker, the chances of securing enough support are slim.

Meanwhile, RSP chair Rabi Lamichhane held a meeting on Saturday with Gyanendra Bahadur Shahi, the RPP parliamentary party leader. During the meeting, there was discussion on the possibility of offering the deputy Speaker’s post to their party, according to an RPP leader.

However, according to RSP leaders, there were concerns that such a move could show the party getting close to royalist forces. “Thus the party is considering an alternative—supporting the SSP instead,” said a party leader.

RSP General Secretary Kabindra Burlakoti denied that the party has held any discussions with any political party regarding deputy Speaker election.

Pointing out that the deputy Speaker will be elected at a time set by the Speaker, Burlakoti said that discussions about deputy Speaker would begin only after the Speaker is formally elected on Sunday.

Apart from presiding over House meetings and performing other roles in the Speaker’s absence, the deputy Speaker also sits on the Constitutional Council, which is responsible for recommending appointments to major constitutional bodies.

According to Article 284 of the Constitution of Nepal, the council has the prime minister as chair, the chief justice, the Speaker, the deputy Speaker, the chairperson of the National Assembly, and the leader of the main opposition in the House of Representatives.

In the Constitutional Council, the Nepali Congress would have representation as the main opposition while Narayan Dahal, then affiliated with the CPN (Maoist Centre) that has been renamed NCP after unification with other parties, chairs the National Assembly.

Since the six-member council’s majority can be determined by which party holds the deputy Speaker post, the RSP is believed to be making careful considerations over which party gets its support for deputy Speaker.