Pokhara, January 28

Rajiv Gurung, aka Deepak Manange, was today sworn in as a member of Gandaki Provincial Assembly.

Gandaki Province Speaker Netra Adhikari administered him the oath of office and secretary this evening in the presence of a few provincial ministers, PA members and journalists.

Nepali Congress parliamentary party leader for the province Krishna Chandra Nepali accused the speaker of setting a wrong precedent by swearing in Gurung in contravention of the decision of the Karya Byabastha Paramarsha Samiti on January 6.

Gurung, an independent candidate supported by the erstwhile CPN-UML, had won from Manang (B) as a Provincial Assembly member for the Gandaki Province in the last provincial elections.

Though Gurung was serving a sentence for attempted murder, he was released on December 21 as per the provision in the new penal code that allows defendants deserving less than 10-year sentence to fight their case from outside the prison.

With Rajiv Gurung’s swearing-in, the number of PA members has reached 59 in Gandaki Province that has 60 seats for Provincial Assembly members.

One post still lies vacant after Tek Bahadur Gharti, who was elected from Baglung-2(B), passed away.