Gandaki Provincial Assembly senior-most member Basyal takes oath

Published On: December 28, 2022 03:00 PM NPT By: SANDESH SHRESTHA

POKHARA, Dec 28: Mitra Lal Basyal, the senior-most member of the Gandaki Provincial Assembly, took the oath of office and secrecy on Wednesday. Gandaki Province Chief Prithvi Man Gurung administered the oath of office and secrecy to UML MP Basyal elected from Parbat Province Assembly 2.

According to Article 182(5) of the Constitution and Section 75(1) of the Provincial Assembly Election Act 2074, there is a provision to administer the oath of office and secrecy to the senior-most member of the Provincial Assembly.

Basyal, who took the oath as the senior-most member, will administer the oath of office and secrecy to other provincial assembly members on Thursday. The members of the Provincial Assembly have been called to take the oath at the Provincial Assembly Building Nadipur on Thursday at 1 PM.

In the 60-member Gandaki Provincial Assembly, there are 27 MPs from the Nepali Congress, 22 from the CPN-UML, 8 from the CPN (Maoist Center), two from the RPP and 1 from the CPN United Socialist Party. The recently formed alliance has a majority in Gandaki. Since UML has 22 MPs, Maoist Center 8 and RPP has 2 MPs, the alliance enjoys a majority to form the government here.

However, the process of government formation in Gandaki has not yet started. Since no single party has a majority in Gandaki, the provincial chief has to give a certain time and call for two or more parties to form the government. In this way, if two or more parties are unable to form a government, the way to form a government is opened for the largest party in the provincial assembly.

Meanwhile, the provincial chief Gurung has called the session of the Gandaki provincial assembly for January 2. According to clause (1) of Article 183 of the Constitution of Nepal, there is a provision that the head of the province shall call the session of the provincial assembly within 20 days after the announcement of the final results of the election to the selection of members of the provincial assembly. Similarly, there is a constitutional provision that the Speaker and Deputy Speaker must be elected within 15 days of the first meeting of the Provincial Assembly.