The newly-elected members of the Provincial Assembly of Province 1 took the oath of office and secrecy on Monday.

Seventy-nine-year-old Gayananda Mandal Gangai, the senior-most member of the Assembly, administered the oath to provincial lawmakers at the Assembly building.

Similarly, six lawmakers took the oath of office and secrecy in their mother tongue.

Outgoing ministers Indra Bahadur Angbo (Economic Affairs and Planning) and Khinulangwa Limbu (Tourism and Culture) took the oath in their mother tongue Yakthung, popularly known as Limbu language.

Angbo on CPN (Maoist Centre) ticket and Limbu on CPN (Unified Socialist) ticket have been re-elected to the Assembly from Panchthar 1 (B) and Ilam 1 (A) respectively.

Similarly, Unified Socialist’s Kamal Prasad Jabegu from Panchthar 1 (A), Congress’ Khagen Singh Hangnam from Taplejung 1 (B) and Janata Samajbadi’s Nirmala Limbu have taken oath in Yakthung.

Congress’ Sunita Gachchhadar Chaudhary took the oath of office and secrecy in Tharu language.

In the 93-member Assembly, CPN-UML constitutes 40, Nepali Congress 29, CPN (Maoist Centre) 13, Rastriya Prajatantra Party 6, CPN (United Socialist) 4 and Janata Samajbadi Party 1. Among them, 39 represent Aadibasi Janajati, 37 from Khas/Arya, six from Madhesi, five from Tharu and Rajbanshi, four from Dalit and two from Muslim communities.

Earlier on Monday, Gangai was administered the oath of office and secrecy by the Head of Province Parshuram Khapung at the latter’s office. Gangai took the oath in his cultural attire.

Article 179 of the Constitution provides that the members of the Provincial Assembly must take an oath in accordance with the provincial law before participating in the meeting of the Provincial Assembly or any of its committees for the first time.

Similarly, Clause (5) of Article 182 of the Constitution stipulates that in the event that there is no election of the Speaker of the Provincial Assembly or the Deputy Speaker of the Provincial Assembly or when both positions are vacant, the chairmanship of the Provincial Assembly meeting shall be held by the senior member in terms of age.

According to Article 19 of the 2018 Act on Remuneration and Benefits of Officials and Members of the Provincial Assembly, members of the Provincial Assembly must take an oath before the person who presides over the Provincial Assembly before participating in the meeting of the Provincial Assembly or any of its committees for the first time. However, according to Article 182 (5) of the Constitution, the member presiding over the assembly must take an oath before the head of the province.

According to Article 183 of the Constitution, the provincial head must convene the session of the Provincial Assembly within 20 days of the announcement of the final result of the elections.