KATHMANDU, JANUARY 21

Rastriya Swatantra Party candidate Indira Ranamagar, 52, was elected deputy speaker.

She received 166 votes.

Ninety-seven lawmakers, including those from the Nepali Congress and the CPN (Unified Socialist), voted against her. The seven-party ruling alliance partners and some independent lawmakers voted in Ranamagar's favour. As the RSP lawmaker had enough votes to get elected as deputy speaker, the House did not have to put her rival and Nepali Congress lawmaker Mukta Kumari Yadav's candidacy to vote, said Speaker Devraj Ghimire. Speaker Ghimire declared Ranamagar the winner.

In the 275-member HoR, 264 lawmakers were present. According to Secretary at the Parliament Secretariat Gopalnath Yogi, Nepal Workers and Peasants Party lawmaker Prem Suwal stayed neutral during the voting process and Ghimire did not have to cast his vote.

Eleven lawmakers were absent: CPN-Maoist Centre lawmaker Barshaman Pun, who is undergoing treatment for liver disease; CPN (US) lawmaker Krishna Kumar Shrestha and Dhan Bahadur Budha, NC lawmakers Manorama Sherchan, Bina Kumari Thanet, and Sapana Rajbhandari, Rastriya Prajatantra Party lawmaker Dhawal Shumsher JB Rana, UML lawmaker Laxmi Mahato Koiri, who has been indicted in a criminal case; and Nepali Congress lawmaker Tek Bahadur Gurung, who was elected from Manang, but remains suspended.

Earlier, RSP lawmaker Sobita Gautam, who had proposed Ranamagar's name for deputy speaker urged all lawmakers to vote for her describing her as a suitable candidate for the job. She said the lawmakers needed to rise above the politics of struggle for power and appeasement in order to achieve goals of development and socio-economic transformation with new ideas and approaches.

UML lawmaker Krishna Gopal Shreshta who supported Ranamagar's candidacy said that Ranamagar, who was inspired by Parijat, had been dedicating her life to social service and was well recognised in the national and international arena for her contribution.

In an oblique reference to former speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota's role in the aftermath of UML's split in August 2021, Shrestha said he expected the speaker not to aid in any party's split. In the past, UML had accused Sapkota of not confirming the expulsion of rebel UML lawmakers, including Madhav Kumar Nepal who later formed their own party.

CPN (Unified Socialist) lawmaker Metmani Chaudhary said that Yadav who had secured the highest number of votes among the women candidates during Nepali Congress' 14th National Assembly was a suitable candidate for deputy speaker.

Chaudhary took a potshot at UML Chair and former prime minister KP Sharma Oli.

'We heard misinterpretation of the constitutional provisions about the PM's right to dissolve the House of Representatives. I want the house to run a class for those who wrongly interpret the provisions contained in Article 42 of the 1990 constitution and provisions of Article 76 of the current constitution.

These articles provision for House dissolution. While Oli has been saying that his move to dissolve the HoR was right, other parties, including CPN (US) termed his move a regression.

'A former prime minister, and you all know who that person is, is looking for the right moment to shred this constitution and scrap the new political system, the republican order, as the predatory animal the tiger is always on the prowl, Chaudhary added.

Loktantrik Samajwadi Party-Nepal lawmaker Sarvendranath Shukla who supported Yadav's candidacy said the PM had pledged himself to the politics of consensus, but that pledge did not last even 10 days, as a result of which, the speaker was chosen through voting, which had not happened in the last 15 years after the 2006 popular movement.

RPP Chair Rajendra Lingden said that Ranamagar who was inspired by Parijat, was from a humble background but was recognised by the country and the international community for her contribution to the country. He said he was happier than anybody else to support her candidacy.

NC lawmaker Badri Prasad Pandey who supported Yadav's candidacy said she was a suitable candidate for the job as she had been a member of the HoR and Natonal Assembly in the past. He flayed UML Chair KP Sharma Oli's remark that gave the impression that the high level mechanism which Oli coordinated, was above the executive.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 22, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.