KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 5

Urmila Aryal, a candidate of the CPN-Maoist Centre, has been confirmed as the vicechairperson of the National Assembly after the Nepali Congress did not field a candidate for the post.

Till this afternoon, she was the only candidate vying for the position of National Assembly vice-chairperson at the Parliament Secretariat.

It is certain that Aryal will make it to the constitutional post after the meeting of the Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party Working Committee decided not to run for the position of vice-chairperson.

The meeting held at the residence of NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba in Dhumbarahi decided not to run for the post of National Assembly vice-chairperson.

In their attempt to manoeuvre the Maoists who were in the race until December 25, the Congress did not nominate the National Assembly vice-president.

The Congress, which is fielding candidates to surround candidates raised by the UML, is becoming soft towards the Maoists. With the belief that the Maoists will support them in the presidential election on March 9, the Congress has left the post of vice-chair of the National Assembly to the Maoists.

Aryal of CPN Masal background was employed as a women development officer till 1990. After resigning as Women Development Officer in 1991, she joined UML. She then contested the 1991 and 1996 parliamentary elections from her home district Parsa, but lost them. She, however, succeeded in the 2001 election.

She is considered to have played a crucial role in building the UML party. She became the Minister of State for Women, Children and Social Welfare of the interim government in 2006.

Elected as a UML Politburo member from the eighth convention in Butwal in 2008, she became the Minister of Local Development in the Jhalanath Khanal-led UML-Maoist coalition government in 2008.

After that, she held various responsibilities in the UML and wanted to become the president of the All Nepal Women Committee.

However, the party did not allow her to become a candidate.

And with that she left the UML and joined the then Maoists.

Although she did not get much opportunity even in the Maoist party, she was ready to be appointed a minister in the current government led by Dahal. However, the party decided to make her the vice-president of the National Assembly. Aryal was also ready for that post.

A version of this article appears in the print on February 6, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.