KATHMANDU: The Parliament meeting went smoothly on Monday after obstructions from opposition parties for nearly one and half months.

The opposition parties were protesting the Constitution amendment bill that the government registered at the House on November 29. However, Minister for Law Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ajaya Shankar Nayak had tabled the bill amid the protests on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the opposition parties led by the CPN-UML had already decided not to obstruct discussions on the election-related bills, but just on the Constitution amendment bill.

The opposition lawmakers, therefore, had decided to let the House move with its business as the Speaker Onsari Gharti had not included the amendment bill discussion in the meeting agenda today.

Speaking during the special hour and the zero hour today, lawmakers of various parties raised their concerns about various contemporary political issues including an early announcement of the local poll dates.

Guideline for regular question-answer sessions with PM

Meanwhile, the Parliament meeting today endorsed the Internal Operational Guideline on Direct Question Answer.

The guideline allows the Speaker to allocate two hours of a month in the House meeting to let lawmakers hold a direct question-answer session with the Prime Minister about issues directly related to the PM and the ministries under his/her leadership.

The discussions could be telecast live.

(With inputs from the Rastriya Samachar Samiti)