KATHMANDU, AUGUST 27
Lawmakers have filed candidacies for the election of chairs of 10 thematic committees in the House of Representatives. These thematic committees also include the two joint committees - Parliamentary Hearing Committee and State Directives Principles and Policy Monitoring and Implementation Committee.
The election for the chair of the House committees is scheduled for tomorrow.
According to the Parliament Secretariat, UML lawmakers Rishikesh Pokharel and Kiran Kumar Sah have filed their candidacies for the Public Accounts Committee and Women and Social Affairs Committee, respectively.
Similarly, CPN-MC lawmaker Bimala Subedi filed her candidacy for the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee; CPN (Unified Socialist) lawmaker Bhanu Bhakta Joshi for Education, Health and Information Technology Committee; Nepali Congress lawmaker Santosh Chalise for the Finance Committee; Nepali Congress lawmaker Arzu Rana for the Agricultural Cooperatives and Natural Resources Committee; Nepali Congress lawmaker Ramhari Khatiwada for the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee; Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal lawmaker Raj Kishor Yadav for the International Relations and Tourism Committee; Janamat Party lawmaker Abdul Khan for the Industry and Commerce and Labour and Consumer Affairs Committee; Rastriya Prajatantra Party lawmaker Deepak Bahadur Singh for the Infrastructure Development Committee; and Rastriya Swatantra Party lawmaker Ganesh Parajuli for the Industry and Commerce, Labour and Consumers Interest Committee.
The HoR has begun the process to elect its thematic committee chair only after nine months as the ruling and opposition parties had been bargaining for the spoils of opportunities.
The election for the chairs of all 10 thematic committees of the HoR is scheduled for 3:00pm tomorrow. CPN-Maoist Centre lawmaker Madhav Sapkota said that his party wanted to field him for the Infrastructure Development Committee, but since his party reached an understanding with the Rastriya Prajatantra Party about support for the Koshi government, he backed out from the race at the last moment. "I had gone to Singha Durbar to file my candidacy, but I backed out as my party had reached an understanding with the RPP," Sapkota said.
As per the agreement, RPP will support the ruling party in Koshi Province to form the government if such a situation arose. The Supreme Court has ordered the Uddhav Thapaled government from taking any policy and longterm decisions. UML lawmaker Hikmat Karki has filed a writ petition challenging the trust vote Thapa obtained in the House recently, arguing that Israil Mansuri, who chaired the House meeting, voted for Thapa, and, in accordance with the constitution, the Speaker of the House or the person chairing the House meeting cannot take part in the voting process.
Sapkota said that his party had also agreed to give the Speaker's post to the RPP in Koshi Province. If the RPP remains committed to the new understanding with the ruling party, the Koshi government can avoid the current crisis.
Sapkota said that the division of panel chairs' posts among the ruling and opposition parties reflected the parties' desire to work in the spirit of collaboration.
He said that the ruling parties had offered to give the chair of one thematic committee to the Rastriya Swatantra Party, but the party declined the offer, and today it filed its own candidacy.
Assistant Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat Dasharath Dhamala said that the election for the thematic committee chairs would take place tomorrow when the thematic committees convened their meetings under the senior-most lawmaker of the panel.
In a panel where there is only one candidate, the panel chair declares that candidate the winner for the post, and in the panel where there is more than one candidate, the panel chair elects the candidate through a voice vote.
This means if the two candidates Abdul Khan and Ganesh Parajuli remain in the contest, there will be voting for electing the chair of the Industry and Commerce, and Labour and Consumer Interest Committee.
A version of this article appears in the print on August 28, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
