Kathmandu, September 25

Unlike in parliamentary practice, Speaker Onsari Gharti today continued the parliament proceedings ignoring repeated appeals and protests by lawmakers of Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, who had demanded confirmation of enough quorum in the House for passing a bill.

NWPP lawmaker Prem Suwal had objected when the Parliament was passing the Civil Procedure Code bill. After the Speaker ignored his objection, another NWPP lawmaker Anuradha Thapa Magar also rose from her chair and started chanting slogans against the Speakers move.

After passing the bill amid protests, Speaker Gharti adjourned the House for 15 minutes. Later, she postponed the meeting for October 6.

As per the working procedure of the Parliament,  one-third members of the total number of lawmakers must be present in the meeting for voting on any bill or proposal.

The Parliament, which has a total member of 592 should have at least 148 members to pass any bill or a proposal.

The working procedure also provisions that if any lawmaker expresses doubt regarding the quorum, the proceedings must halt to take a count.

Due to the forthcoming festivals and the political engagement of leaders for provincial and federal elections, the presence of lawmakers in today’s parliament was very low.

Talking to mediapersons after the meeting, lawmaker Suwal said that it was an unlawful act by the Speaker. The lawmaker also claimed that the bill should not be considered as a ‘passed bill’.