KATHMANDU, Dec 20: With President Bidya Devi Bhandari serving a seven-day deadline for the parties to stake claim for the formation of a new government as per Article 76 (2) of the constitution on Sunday, all political parties represented in the House of Representatives (HoR) have expedited the process to elect their Parliamentary Party (PP) leaders.
While Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), CPN (Unified Socialist), and Janamat Party have elected their PP leaders on Monday, Nepali Congress (NC) has announced it will hold its PP leader election on Wednesday. As there are no contenders for the post of PP leader within the parties, CPN-UML Chairman KP Oli and CPN (Maoist Center) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal have been automatically chosen as the PP leader of their respective parties.
Earlier on Sunday, the NC had formed a three-member Election Committee under the leadership of the party’s Joint General Secretary Bhishma Raj Aangdambe to elect the PP leader.
Parties, leaders call for ousting PM, impeaching Prez
General Secretary Gagan Kumar Thapa, former General Secretary Dr Shekhar Koirala, senior leader Ram Chandra Paudel along with party President and Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba are vying for the post of NC PP leader. The leaders of the rival faction led by Dr Koirala held a meeting on Monday evening to name a common candidate to contest in the PP leader election scheduled for Wednesday.
The NC has won 89 seats - 57 in the first past the post election system and 32 in the proportional representation election system - in the House of Representatives in the elections held on November 20. These 89 MPs will elect the PP leader. In NC, the PP leader leads the government if the party decides to form the government.
Meanwhile, Rabi Lamichhane has been elected the Parliamentary Party (PP) leader of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP). The RSP's parliamentary party meeting held on Monday elected party Chairman Lamichhane as the PP leader.
Mukul Dhakal, the spokesperson for RSP, informed Republica that the meeting held on Monday approved the decision as the party has already decided who will be the leader of the parliamentary party by holding preliminary elections. There are 20 MPs in the House of Representatives of RSP - seven through the first past the post system and and 13 through the proportional representation system.
Similarly, CPN (Unified Socialist) has elected Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal as the Parliamentary Party (PP) leader. A Parliamentary Party meeting of the Unified Socialist on Monday unanimously elected Nepal as the PP leader.
Similarly, Vice President Rajendra Pandey has been elected as the deputy leader of the parliamentary party. Deputy General Secretary Prakash Jwala has been selected as the party's whip. The Unified Socialist has a total of 10 MPs who were elected on the First Past the Post (FPTP) electoral system.
Likewise, Chairman of the Janamat Party, Dr CK Raut, has been elected as the party's PP leader. A meeting of the party’s lawmakers held at the party office in Buddhanagar on Monday unanimously elected Dr Raut as the PP leader, said Harendra Chaudhary, the party's Kathmandu Valley in-charge.
Dr Raut was elected a member of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Federal Parliament, from Saptari electoral constituency number 2. Janamat Party won one seat in the HoR under the FPTP electoral system and five seats under the Proportional Representation (PR) electoral system in the November 20 elections.
