Parliament session by month-end

Kathmandu, February 16

The new government has begun initial groundwork for calling the first session of the newly-elected House of Representatives and National Assembly.

Sources in the prime minister’s office and the Parliament Secretariat have hinted that the tentative date for the start of the session might be announced on Monday.

According to CPN-UML leader and former chairperson of the Constituent Assembly Subas Chandra Nembang, besides swearing in lawmakers and the PM’s trust vote, the Parliament has to deal with a series of  businesses that the government gives it.

Sources in the Parliament Secretariat said it was fully prepared to conduct the first session of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly.

Since KP Sharma Oli was appointed the prime minister in accordance with Article 76 (2) of the constitution that has a provision of forming coalition government, the PM will have to demonstrate the backing of majority of lawmakers in the Lower House. In fact, the PM has to win the trust vote within 30 days of being sworn in. “We hope that we’ll receive tentative date for trust vote by Sunday,” Parliament Spokesperson Bharat Raj Gautam told THT.

The interim procedure for the first meeting should be passed by both houses of the Parliament. According to Gautam, the procedure will be presented in the first meeting of the houses, which will commence together.

Gautam told THT that the Parliament had to formulate nearly 300 laws and deal with 25 laws that the dissolved legislature parliament could not pass.

He added that lawmakers of the bicameral House had to be sworn in before the process of delivering pays and perks to lawmakers could be activated.

“Though the Parliament has not received any hint of the date, the session cannot be delayed for more than two weeks,” Gautam said.