KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 13

The winter session of the Parliament will begin at 2:00pm today.

According to Assistant Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat Dasharath Dhamala, Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand will table the Social Security (First Amendment) Ordinance, Nepal Police and Provincial Police (Operation, Supervision, and Coordination) Ordinance, and Acid and other Harmful Substances (Regulation) Ordinance in the House.

Minister of Physical Infrastructure and Transport Renu Kumari Yadav will table the Railway Ordinance, whereas Minister of Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Dilendra Prasad Badu will table the Ordinance to Amend Some Criminal Offences and Procedure Acts and the Ordinance to Amend Sexual Violence Act, said Dhamala.

He said Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota can also name a panel of lawmakers who could chair meetings of the House in his absence.

The CPN-UML, which obstructed the budget session of the Parliament accusing Sapkota of being biased against it, may obstruct parliamentary proceedings again. The UML has accused Sapkota of not confirming the expulsion of 14 UML lawmakers belonging to the Madhav Kumar Nepal-Jhalanath Khanal faction.

The UML had removed 14 lawmakers from the HoR and party positions for defying party whips on May 10 when Oli, who was the prime minister then, had sought a vote of confidence in the HoR.

Madhav Kumar Nepal and Khanal later split the mother party and formed their own new party - CPN (Unified Socialist).

UML Chief Whip Bishal Bhattarai said that the UML parliamentary party would hold its meeting at 11:00am tomorrow and after hearing arguments of lawmakers the party would take a call on what its strategies should be in the House. 'Since the issues that we had raised in the Parliament earlier remain unresolved, our obstruction will most likely continue in this session of the Parliament as well,'

Bhattarai said. Due to the UML obstruction, the budget session of the Parliament could not pass any bill except the budget related bill.

There are 54 bills under the consideration of the Parliament.

Some of these bills are crucial, including the citizenship bill and bills related to the implementation of federalism that the Parliament needs to pass urgently.

Nepali Congress Whip Pushpa Bhusal said parties represented in the Parliament would discuss the UML's obstruction in a Business Advisory Committee meeting scheduled for tomorrow.

'I do not know what the UML will do in the new session of the Parliament. I just hope that the main opposition will let the House run its regular businesses,' she added.

Meanwhile, lawmakers and Parliament Secretariat employees underwent rapid COVID-19 antigen test.

Four employees tested positive for COVID-19, said Dhamala.

CPN-UML's obstruction will most likely continue in this session of the Parliament as well.

A version of this article appears in the print on December 14, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.