KATHMANDU, JUNE 11

The House of Representatives (HoR) plays a crucial role in representative democracies by ensuring that people's voices are heard in the legislative processes.

The people elect the members of the HoR thereby ensuring a direct link between the government and the electorate. The HoR aims to reflect the will and interests of the people it serves through representation of diverse constituencies.

It also holds the legislative power to formulate laws and enact policies.

This power allows elected representatives to debate, propose and shape legislation that address the needs and concerns of the people in a manner that the democratic ideals of the representative society are reflected.

The concept of the HoR originated in medieval Greece in the form of the Athenian Council and in ancient Rome as the Roman Senate. These representative bodies were seen as the mediums to include the voice of the citizens in the decision-making process of their societies. Later, in the13th and 14th centuries, the House of Commons of England started to evolve, which laid the foundation of the modern day House of Commons of the United Kingdom (UK) established in 1801.

Similarly, in the 18th century, an extensive debate was initiated in the USA on whether to create a House with representation based on population and the Senate with equal representation.

Finally, as a part of what is referred to as The Great Compromise, the provision of a representative House was included in its constitution, and the first session of this house commenced in 1789. These are the historical reference points that are believed to have inspired the establishment of modern day HoRs in participative democracies throughout the world.

In Nepal, people's representation in the parliament was guaranteed in various models over different political systems. At the moment, Article 83 of the Constitution of Nepal conveys that the federal legislature shall consist of two Houses, namely, the HoR and the National Assembly.

The 275-member HoR – 165 representatives elected from single-member constituencies by first-pastthe-post (FPtP) voting and 110 elected through a proportional representation (PR) electoral system – is intended to represent the people, hold legislative power, check the executive branch, facilitate policy formulation, represent minority voices, and ensure accountability and transparency.

The recent parliamentary practices in Nepal, however, indicate that the HoR is abruptly deviating from its objectives and is being converted into a cheap version of a quarrel club.

Members of the HoR are performing embarrassingly inside the House by repeatedly showing unparliamentarily conduct. It seems that most of the parliamentarians are seeking filthy publicity, and hence are raising their issues in a loud and animated manner.

The previous winter session of the HoR went wasted by irresponsible conduct of the lawmakers.

The senior level leaders of the main political parties seemed occasionally strolling inside the House, otherwise, even during important discussions, the Prime Minister (PM), leaders of the main opposition and honchos of other minor parties were mostly absent.

The unproductivity of HoR is reflected by the fact that not a single bill was passed in the four-month-long session.

The ongoing budget session of the HoR is leading to an even unscrupulous course. The delusion and incompetence of the HoR Speaker in maintaining the decorum of the House is clearly visible. The lawmakers, irrespective of their political affiliation, are ardently raising their issues on will, without the consent of the Speaker. Even the members of the new and alternative-claiming political parties that have levitated to power with an agenda of transforming the existing political concept are showing embarrassing conduct. The cheap publicity stunts are eclipsing the intellectual and methodical debated in the House.

The face-off between PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal and the opposition leader KP Sharma Oli on May 5 on the achievements of Dahal's recently concluded India visit, issues related to the boundary dispute, and the Citizenship Bill authenticated by the President went beyond the parliamentary boundaries. The opposition lawmakers ruthlessly grilled the PM during his address for almost five hours, as if they were in a loud, and TRP seeking talk show. The lawmakers continuously hurled their questions towards the PM without the consent of the Speaker, and showed least patience to hear the answers.

The Speaker haplessly witnessed the breach of the House decorum. Obviously, the PM is answerable to the HoR, and should be made accountable to the House. However, this should be done in a decent manner acceptable inside the HoR.

The ever-exceeding derogatory conduct of the lawmakers in the HoR illustrates that the lawmakers are badly in need of a training course on good parliamentary practices. The duties and responsibilities of the lawmakers are clearly mentioned in the Constitution, and the lawmakers should strictly adhere to them. The lawmakers are the torchbearers of societal issues, and they should lead by example. They should alienate themselves of self-ego, personal vengeance and publicity hunger.

To maintain the integrity of the HoR, renowned parliamentary system experts should be hired to regularly organise trainings on good parliamentary conduct for the lawmakers. These steps will teach our representatives to act more responsibly in the HoR.

The HoR is an important cornerstone of participative democracy. It represents the people by raising their voices on diverse issues.

Hence, its significance lies in fostering democratic governance, upholding the principles of representation, and promoting the welfare of the people. This can be achieved only when the lawmakers maintain the decorum of the House and act decently and responsibly in the HoR.

Dr Joshi is a senior scientist and independent opinion maker based in Germany pushpa.joshi@ gmail.com

A version of this article appears in the print on June 12, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.