Janakpurdham/Surkhet, Feb 4

The first meeting of assemblies of provinces 2, 5, 6 and 7 were held in Janakpur, Butwal, Birendranagar and Dhangadi, respectively, today.

The Province 2 assembly began with Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal lawmaker Manish Suman demanding that photos of people killed in Madhes agitation be put up in the assembly hall, halting assembly proceedings for a while. However, the meeting resumed after the senior-most member chairing the PA meet, Laganlal Chaudhary, ruled that the photos of Tarai agitation martyrs be put up in the hall.

Addressing the assembly, Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal lawmaker Mohammad Lalbabu Gadi urged all Province 2 lawmakers to commit to making Province 2 a model pradesh. Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal lawmaker Jitendra Sonal stressed the need to seize the present opportunity for development of the province.

The CPN-UML was given 10 minutes to speak and two of its lawmakers spoke for five minutes each. Ramsaroj Yadav for the Nepali Congress also spoke on the occasion.

While lawmakers from FSF-N and RJP-N, besides two independent lawmakers, spoke in Hindi, representatives of the UML, NC and CPN-Maoist Centre addressed the meeting in Maithali. The senior-most member Chaudhary conducted the House proceedings in Nepali.

The next meeting of the assembly has been set for February 12, while the meeting slated for February 14 will elect the speaker.

The first meeting of Province 5 assembly concluded in Butwal today, with a unanimous decision to elect the speaker on February 14.

The senior-most member of the assembly, Baldev Sharma, took the responsibility of the speaker in today's meeting. The meeting passed Provincial Assembly Work Procedure Interim Regulation unanimously. In the absence of the speaker, the meeting formed a five-member counselling committee to chair the meeting. The meeting lasted for an hour. UML's Shankar Pokhrel and CPN-Maoist Centre's Kul Bahdaur KC said the parties should work in tandem for the prosperity of the province.

Of the 87 members from 12 districts, 86 were present today. RJP-N lawmaker Bina Pant was not present, as she was yet to take the oath of office and secrecy.

Lawmakers participating in the first meeting of Prov- ince 6 assembly pledged to work for prosperity of the province. Stating that the province had lagged behind despite its huge size, PA lawmakers vowed to work for the development of the province.

Senior-most member Him Bahadur Shahi inaugurated the proceedings. The meeting ratified the Interim Work Procedure Regulation. Shahi set February 12 for the election of the speaker.

Province 6 Parliamentary Secretariat Secretary Krishna Hari Khadka has been appointed the election officer. The secretariat has published a notice notifying that polls will be held on February 12.