Kathmandu, June 10

The National Assembly, which is a permanent house, will determine the tenure of its members through lottery on June 18.

Unlike the members of the House of the Representatives who serve for five years, the members of the Upper House have different tenure with some serving for two years, some for four years and some for six years.

Murari Mahat, a joint secretary at the Parliament Secretariat said all members of the NA will draw lots on June 18 to know the length of their tenure — two or four or six years. He also said that the Parliament Secretariat would put boxes for each clusters and members representing those clusters would have to draw their lots from the same clusters.

“This means that there will be separate boxes for Dalit, women and differently abled or people from minority communities,” Mahat added. There will be separate boxes for 21 members – three from each province who were elected under open category.

According to Mahat, there will be separate province-wise boxes for women members but there will be one box each for Dalit cluster and for the cluster of   differently abled members or members from minority group.  There will be second round of draw for two members who will choose between four and six years tenure. Mahat said three NA members who were nominated by the president will also draw lots from a separate box to know their tenure.

There are 59 members in the Upper House out of which 56 were elected and three were nominated by the president on recommendation of the government.

As per constitutional provision, 56 members are elected, including three women, one Dalit and one from persons with disabilities or minorities, from each province by an electoral college. Out of 59, NA members, 19 will serve for two years, 20 for four years and 20 for six years.