KATHMANDU, Feb 19: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has summoned the first session of the federal parliament for March 5, three months after the parliamentary elections and a month after the upper house elections. The parliamentary and provincial elections were held in two phases on November 26 and December 7, and the upper house elections were held on February 7.
Issuing a statement on Monday, the office of the president informed that the president has summoned the first meeting of the federal parliament in accordance with Clause 1, Article 93 of the constitution at 4 pm on March 5 at the parliament building in New Baneshwar.
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The president summoned the session as per the cabinet decision on Sunday that decided to recommend the date and time to the president. The constitution has stated that the president shall summon the parliament session on the recommendation of the government within 30 days of the publication of the final election results. The Election Commission (EC) submitted the final result of the elections to the president on February 14. Also the statute has provisioned that the prime minister must win the vote of confidence within a month after his appointment to the post from the president. The EC has proposed to conduct the presidential election on March 9, four days after the first sitting of parliament.
The offices of the president and the prime minister had consulted the parliament secretariat before fixing the date and time of the first session of the federal parliament. All the seven provincial parliaments have already convened their first meetings.
The very first meeting of the federal parliament is likely to read out the letter from the president’s office about the summoning of the House session, pay tributes to the martyrs, and discuss and endorse the interim working procedure of the parliament, said spokesperson at the parliament secretariat Bharat Gautam. Parliament secretariat has been working on the business agenda for the first meeting. A representative each from all political parties represented in parliament may address the first meeting.
Members of the House of Representatives and National Assembly are set to take oath of office from the seniormost member on March 4. Mahantha Thakur of Rastriya Janata Party Nepal as the seniormost member will chair the first meeting of the lower House and administer the oath of office to the other members. He will conduct the parliamentary meetings until the parliament elects a speaker.
