DHANGADI, JANUARY 13

The process of electing the speaker for the Sudurpaschim Provincial Assembly has been put off until a further notice.

The PA Secretariat announced the deferral of the process by issuing a notice this afternoon.

In the voting for the Speaker held yesterday, no candidates secured majority.

The all-party meeting was again called for 11:00am today, but no consensus was forged for the re-election, leading to the adjournment of the process. The Nagarik Unmukti Party, which has emerged as a decisive force in Sudurpaschim, has said it would not participate in the re-election of Speaker until it is assured in writing to allocate three ministries to the party.

Man Bahadur Rawal of Nepali Congress and Bhim Bahadur Bhandari of CPN-Maoist Centre are the candidates for the Speaker.

In yesterday's voting, Rawal got 23 votes in his favour, while Bhandari' got 26 votes. In the 53-member PA, a total of 50 members took part in the voting, and one vote was assessed invalid.

One has to secure 27 votes to secure majority for winning the election.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 14, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.