KATHMANDU, Dec 31: The members of the Federal Parliament get to wear an 'insignia'. On the basis of the 'insignia', they can easily enter the parliament building. If the security personnel does not see the 'insignia' while entering the parliament building, they can make inquiries. Therefore, MPs have to wear the insignia mandatorily while entering the parliament building. The bicameral federal parliament consists of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly.
A new House of Representatives has been formed after the elections held on November 20. The House of Representatives has 275 members. In the 59-member National Assembly, one-third of the members change every two years. At present, 400 'insignias' have been made for the MPs. The price of an insignia is Rs 5,600. According to the Parliament Secretariat, Rs 2.2 million was spent to make those 400 insignias.
Meanwhile, the members of the previous House of Representatives have not yet returned the 'insignia' taken by them. Even the MPs who left the National Assembly after serving two years and four years have not returned the 'insignia'. Similarly, an official of the Parliament Secretariat said that the parliamentarians who have been prosecuted have not returned the 'insignia' as well.
New IGP Kunwar presented with insignia
"The insignia given by the Parliament Secretariat cannot be used when the people are no longer MP. It is a matter of ethics," said the official. There is a possibility that someone can misuse this 'insignia' for political and personal gain. Even though they didn’t return 'insignia', there has not been any record of the unfortunate incident, the Parliament Secretariat security source said.
Officials of the Parliament Secretariat say that the parliamentarian requested to keep the 'insignia' they received at home without returning it even after the end of their tenure. The term of the previous House of Representatives ended on September 17.
Similarly, a leader said that they wanted to keep the 'insignia' at home to show their future generation as a historic memento. The Parliament Secretariat has already provided insignias to 273 members of the new House of Representatives during the swearing-in ceremony. Twoelected MPs are yet to get those insignias as they haven’t taken the oath yet. The Parliament Secretariat provides free insignias to MPs for the first time. But if they lose it, they have to pay for it.
On June 13, 2020, the parliament approved to print the new map of Nepal, which includes Kalapani, Lipulek, and Limpiyadhura regions and in September 2020, a new insignia was made for the parliamentarians. The new insignia is coated with two lals (0.22 grams) of gold and one tola (11.66 grams) of silver. The map of Nepal in the insignia is made of brass, while the base is made of silver.
