NCP picks majority women for House committee heads

Published On: September 18, 2018 07:11 AM NPT

KATHMANDU, Sept 18: After the deferral of election thrice, 10 thematic committees of the House of Representatives are all set to get their respective chairperson on Friday with the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) finalizing the heads of various parliamentary committees.

The lower house announced on Monday that the election to pick the chairs of the lower house committees will take place on Friday at 11 am.

NCP has decided to contest women leaders in most of the parliamentary committees. If the party doesn’t change its decision in the last minute, head of six lower house committees out of 10 will be women.

According to a highly placed party source, former deputy speaker Purna Kumari Subedi will head the Agriculture, Cooperatives and Natural Resources Committee, former minister Jaypuri Gharti will lead the Education and Health Committee and former state minister Shashi Shrestha has been proposed as the chairperson of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee.

Likewise, Pabitra Kharel Niroula, who was elected from Jhapa constituency-2, is proposed to lead the International Relations Committee and Niru Pal, former chairperson of Yuwa Sangh Nepal, the youth wing of the then CPN-UML, is almost certain to lead the Women and Social Committee.

According to NCP leader Kalyani Khadka, the spouse of former lawmaker Ram Kumar Bhattarai, she is likely to lead the Development and Technology Committee of the lower house.

The party has decided to contest only two male lawmakers for the head of the parliamentary committees. Krishna Prasad Dahal, who defeated Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Kamal Thapa in Makwanpur-1, is likely to lead the Finance Committee while Krishna Bhakta Pokharel, who was a contender for the post of law minister earlier, has been proposed to head the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee of the lower house.

NCP has decided to support the main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) leader Bharat Kumar Shah to lead the Public Accounts Committee and Federal Socialist Forum Nepal leader Bimal Prasad Shreewastab as the head of the Industry, Commerce, Labour and Consumer Welfare Committee.

The heads of two joint committees, comprising lawmakers from both the upper and lower houses, have been also fixed, according to the ruling NCP leaders. NCP leader Niru Devi Jairu, who represents Dadeldhura district, will lead the State Directives, Policy and Liability Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Committee while Rastriya Janata Party Nepal leader and former minister Laxman Lal Karna will lead the Parliamentary Hearings Committee.

NCP leader Yogesh Bhattarai was vying for the chairperson of the hearings committee, while Ghanashyam Bhusal was proposed as head of the Finance Committee but both the leaders failed to secure the positions.

A top leader of NCP informed that the party decided not to pick former ministers and former House committee chairs as the committee heads.

“Some leaders who have the potential to become ministers in the near future have not been chosen to lead the parliamentary panels,” said the leader requesting anonymity.

Few lawmakers were transferred to the other committees on Monday to contest for the post of House committee heads, just ahead of announcing the election for the parliamentary committee heads for Friday.

Since the coalition government of NCP enjoys two-thirds majority, the contestants picked by the party are certain to lead the parliamentary panels.

HoR Thematic Committees
Finance Committee – Krishna Prasad Dahal
International Relations Committee - Pabitra Kharel Niroula
Industry, Commerce, Labour and Consumer Welfare Committee - Bimal Prasad Shreewastab
Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee - Krishna Bhakta Pokhrel
Agriculture, Cooperatives and Natural Resources Committee - Purna K Subedi
Women and Social Committee - Niru Pal
State Affairs and Good Governance Committee- Shashi Shrestha
Development and Technology Committee- Kalyani Khadka
Education and Health Committee- Jaypuri Gharti
Public Accounts Committee- Bharat Shah
Joint Committees
Parliamentary Hearings Committee- Laxman Lal Karna
State Directives, Policy and Liability Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Committee- Niru Devi Jairu