Parliament prepares to elect chairpersons of parliamentary committees if obstruction is lifted

Published On: August 8, 2023 01:54 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, Aug 8: After an agreement between the ruling parties and the main opposition party, preparations are being made to elect the chairpersons of the parliamentary committees. In the meeting of the top leaders held on Monday, it was agreed that the Nepali Congress (NC) will chair four committees, UML three committees and Maoist Center two committees. Similarly, Janata Samajwadi Party, Unified Socialist Party and Janamat Party will chair one committee each.

However, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) have not got the opportunity to head any parliamentary committee although they had also claimed one committee chairperson each.

According to the initial agreement, it has been agreed that the NC will chair the Finance Committee, Agriculture, Cooperatives and Natural Resources Committee, Legislative Management Committee and the Joint Committee.

Similarly, it has been agreed that the UML will head the State Direction Principal, Rules and Responsibility Committee under Joint Committee, Public Accounts Committee, and Women and Social Affairs Committee.

Likewise, it has been agreed that the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee and the Infrastructure Development Committee will be headed by the CPN (Maoist Center).

The Foreign Relations and Tourism Committee will be headed by Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP).

According to sources, there may be changes in the arrangement of two committees due to opposition. There are concerns that the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee, which is responsible for discussing the transitional bill should not be assigned to the CPN (Maoist Center), and similarly the Foreign Relations and Tourism Committee, which is focused on discussing the country's borders should not be assigned to the JSP.

With the commencement of the meeting of the House of Representatives, sources said that preparations are being made to change the names of the members in the committees and set the election date for the chairmanship of the parliamentary committees.