DHANGADI, JANUARY 16

The scheduled meeting of the Provincial Assembly of Sudurpaschim Province was halted today citing the national mourning public holiday declared by the federal government.

After the earlier two meetings couldn't choose the speaker of the assembly, the selection was scheduled for today. 'As today was a national mourning day, it made no sense to hold a meeting on such an occasion, so it has been postponed until 10:00am tomorrow,' said PA member Naresh Kumar Shahi.

Meanwhile, delay in the selection of the speaker has created a crisis in the government as the Province Assembly is required to select the speaker and deputy speaker within 15 days after its first meeting. While the election of the speaker couldn't happen in the first meeting as the coalition alliance's candidate Bhim Bahadur Bhandari of CPN-MC couldn't secure majority votes and the same happened in the second meeting as well.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 17, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.