Newly-elected lawmakers of federal parliament sworn-in
KATHMANDU, March 5: The first meeting of the federal parliament is scheduled for Monday afternoon after the lawmakers took the oath of office and secrecy amidst a special function at International Conference Center in New Baneshwar on Sunday.
The federal parliament consists of a 275-member House of Representatives and a 59-member National Assembly. Altogether 271 members of the lower house and 54 members of the upper house were present in the oath taking ceremony held on Sunday.
Four lawmakers were absent during the swearing-in ceremony of the House of Representatives members on Sunday. The absent lawmakers were - Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Mahendra Raya Yadav, Dharmashila Chapagain and Resham Chaudhari, said Dr Bharat Raj Gautam, Spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat. Chaudhary from RJPN, who has been accused of masterminding the Tikapur incident, is currently in police custody.
Similarly, Ramesh Prasad Yadav of the upper house could not make it to the oath taking ceremony.
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Three other members of the upper house - Yuba Raj Khatiwada, Ram Narayan Bidari and Bimala Paudel Rai - haven’t been able to take the oath of office due to a Supreme Court order to the authority concerned not to administer them the oath of office and secrecy.
The eldest member Mahantha Thakur, 75, administered the oath of office and secrecy to HoR members, while Tara Devi Bhatta, 69, administered the oath to the National Assembly members as per the provisions set in Article 88 of the Constitution of Nepal.
Although Mahendra Raya Yadav was found as the eldest member of the HoR due to ‘technical reason’, he did not turn up in the oath taking ceremony, paving the way for Thakur to administer the oath to HoR members.
Clad in their traditional attires, the newly-elected lawmakers had reached the International Convention Center in Baneshwar. The scene at the parliament building had given a true reflection of multi-cultural Nepal.
Altogether 47 lawmakers had taken the oath in their mother languages. While 18 lawmakers took the oath in Maithili, seven others took the oath in Hindi. Similarly, the number of lawmakers taking the oath in Bhojpuri, Tharu, Magar and Newari stood at 7, 6, 3 and 2, respectively.
A lawmaker each had taken the oath in Bajjika, Tamang, Awadhi and Urdu languages. The remaining lawmakers in the HoR took the oath in the national language Nepali.
Only two members of the National Assembly had taken the oath in their mother tongues. While one of them took the oath in the Maithili language, the other one took it in the Bajjika language. The remaining 50 members had chosen to take the oath in Nepali language.
The oath taking ceremony has paved the way for the full-fledged functioning of the federal parliament. A letter sent by President Bidya Devi Bhandari summoning the first session of parliament will be read out in the first meeting of the federal parliament scheduled for Monday. Besides the formal announcement of the formation of the new cabinet under Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, the first meeting of the HoR shall also approve the Interim Work Procedures of the House of Representatives.
The Parliament Secretariat has announced the schedules for holding an election to the post of House Speaker on March 20, the prime minister receiving the vote of confidence on March 21 and election of National Assembly chairperson and vice chairperson and deputy speaker of HoR on March 14.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission (EC) is holding an election of president on March 13, while the vice president shall be elected a week after the election of the president, the head of state, as per the constitution. The elections for these key positions under the framework of new the constitution marks the full implementation of the constitution promulgated in September 2015.
