KATHMANDU, NOVEMBER 29

The government has decided to hold elections on coming January 25 for the seats to remain vacant in the National Assembly (NA) from coming March 4.

The meeting of the Council of Ministers held today at the Singha Durbar-based Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers took the decision to this effect, according to Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma.

Sharma, also Spokesperson of the government, informed that the decision was taken in consultation with the Election Commission.

It may be noted that the terms of one third of the NA members i.e. 20 parliamentarians including Chairperson Ganesh Prasad Timilsina will be ending on March 3 next year.

The outgoing parliamentarians are Anita Devkota, Jitendra Narayan Dev, Prkash Pantha and Ramesh Jung Raymajhi from Nepali Congress, Indu Kadariya, Deepa Gurung, Dilkumari Rawal, Kumar Dasaudi, Narpati Luwar, Bhairav Sundar Shrestha and Ramchandra Rai from CPN (UML).

Similarly, the tenure of Bina Pokharel, Mahesh Kumar Mahara and Hariram Chaudhary and Mahesh Kumar Mahara from CPN (Maoist Centre), Pramila Kumari of Janata Samajwadi Party, Nanda Chapagain and Singh Bahadur Bishwakarma of CPN (Unified Socialist), independent parliamentarian Kimlal Devkota and nominated parliamentarian Dr Bimala Paudyal is coming to an end

Minister Sharma, also Spokesperson of the government, further shared that the government in today's meeting decided to mobilize security agencies for construction of temporary shelters for quake survivors in Jajarkot.

A 6.4 magnitude quake jolted on November 3 in some districts of Karnali Province with epicenter in Jajarkot district incurring a massive loss of damages of lives and properties.

Sharma said that additional human resources would be deployed in the quake affected areas for construction of such shelters if demand is made from the Chief District Officers.

Similarly, the meeting decided to promote Shweta Dawadi to the secretary post of the Nepal Engineering service and appoint High Court Justice Lekhnath Poudel as the Chairperson of the Nepali Army's Special Court.