DHANGADHI, Jan 17: Bhim Bahadur Bhandari of the CPN (Maoist Center) has been elected as the Speaker of Sudurpaschim Province Assembly. Bhandari was elected as the speaker by getting 29 votes in the election held in the meeting of the provincial assembly on Tuesday morning.

Out of 52 province assembly members who participated in the voting, 29 voted in favor of Bhandari and 23 voted against. Shivaraj Bhatta, the senior-most member who is presiding over the provincial assembly meeting, announced that Bhandari had been elected as the Speaker as 29 votes in favor of Bhandari were the majority of the members of the Sudurpaschim Province Assembly.

In the meeting, 29 provincial assembly members, including 11 from the Maoist Center, 10 from CPN-UML, seven from Nagarik Unmukti Party and one from RPP voted for Bhandari. Nepali Congress, CPN (Unified Socialist) and independent candidate Tara Joshi voted against Bhandari. Senior-most member Bhatta did not vote. In the 53-member provincial assembly, all 29 provincial assembly members who are with the ruling coalition parties voted for Bhnadari.

Likewise, in the first phase, voting was done for Man Bahadur Rawal, who had registered his nomination for the Speaker on behalf of the Nepali Congress. There were 20 votes in his favor and 28 against.

There is a constitutional provision that the Speaker should be selected within 15 days of holding the first meeting of the Provincial Assembly. The first meeting was held on January 2. As the government has decided to fly the national flag at half-mast to mourn the loss of life in the plane crash in Pokhara, the meeting of the provincial assembly held on January 16 was postponed with the all-party consensus for the election of the speaker.

 
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