KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 27
President Bidhya Devi Bhandari has, on recommendation of the government, called the new session of both houses of the Parliament at 1:00pm on January 9.
The Parliament Secretariat has issued a notice urging all lawmakers to be present at the Parliament building in Baneshwor at 1:00pm on January 9. The senior-most member of the HoR, Pashupati Shumsher JB Rana, who administered the oath of office and secrecy to newly-elected HoR members, will chair the House meetings until the speaker is elected.
As per Article 91 (1) of the constitution, the speaker and the deputy speaker should be elected within 15 days of the first meeting of the HoR. According to Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat Rojnath Pandey, an all-party meeting will decide when to conduct the election for speaker and deputy speaker. The constitution says that the speaker the deputy speaker should be from different political parties and one of them should be a woman. Assistant Spokesperson for Parliament Secretariat Dasharath Dhamala said on the first day the president's message regarding government formation would be read in both the houses.
According to Pandey, both the houses will also have to take a call whether they need new regulations to govern their proceedings and business or existing regulations need to be amended or they need an interim regulation till a new regulation is drafted.
The government can register any bill or proposal on January 9 or any day after that. There are 12 bills under the consideration of the National Assembly which it can take up in the new session, according to Dhamala.
As 27 bills, including the Truth and Reconciliation Act (Amendment) Bill, the Media Council Bill, the Information Technology Bill, the National Security Bill, and the NHRC Act (Amendment) Bill that were under the consideration of the HoR became ineffective as its tenure ended, the government can re-register those bills or their amended versions.
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal will take the vote of confidence in the new session.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 28, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
