Opposition Parties Begin Discussions on Candidates for Parliamentary Committee Chairpersons

April 15, Kathmandu – Opposition parties have started active discussions regarding candidates for the chairpersons of parliamentary committees. The Nepali Congress and the Nepali Communist Party are deliberating on fielding candidates for all committee chairperson positions. “Let’s put forward candidates. Winning or losing is a natural part of the process,” said a leader involved in the joint discussions. Today is the deadline for submitting nominations for the parliamentary committee chairpersons. According to the Federal Parliament Secretariat, nominations will be accepted from 1 PM to 4 PM today. The nominations will be lodged at the Secretariat of the House of Representatives, Singha Durbar. The list of candidates will be announced at 4:30 PM today.

There are 16 parliamentary committees in the Federal Parliament: 10 in the House of Representatives and 4 in the National Assembly, along with two joint committees. The elections for the chairpersons of the subject committees in the National Assembly have already been completed. The elections for the 10 subject committees of the House of Representatives and the two joint committees are pending. On March 10, the House of Representatives decided on the members of the subject committees. On the same day, Speaker Dol Prasad Aryal announced that the parliamentary committee chairperson elections would be held the following Friday.

Any member of the relevant committee can be proposed as a candidate for chairperson by one committee member and supported by another member. Regarding this, Nepali Congress leaders Mohan Acharya and Bhishmaraj Angdamba are engaging in dialogue with other opposition parties. From the Nepali Communist Party, Varshman Pun and Yubaraj Dulal are consulting with various parties. A joint meeting of opposition leaders will also be held today at noon, where decisions will be made on whether to field candidates and who should be nominated for which committee if they decide to run.