Lagatar24 Desk
Kathmandu, Jan 19: Dev Raj Ghimire, a Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) lawmaker, has been elected as the Speaker of the House of Representatives with 167 votes, reported the Kathmandu Post.
As per information, the motion to elect a CPN-UML lawmaker received 167 votes.
At least 100 people voted against him, while one legislator abstained. He required only 138 votes to win the 275-member Lower House.
UML’s Dev Raj Ghimire elected House Speaker
Ghimire received 167 votes in the 275-member lower house.https://t.co/FpERF3RuPR
— The Kathmandu Post (@kathmandupost) January 19, 2023
“I declare the proposal to elect Ghimire as Speaker has been endorsed through a majority,” said Pashupati Shumsher Rana, who chaired the meeting as a Speaker.
Ghimire’s nomination was proposed by UML Vice-Chairman Subas Nembang and seconded by CPN (Maoist Centre) MP Hitraj Pandey, Rastriya Swatantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane and Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Rajendra Lingden.
Ghimire, who was elected from Jhapa-2, is a UML standing committee member and party in charge of Province 1. In 1999, he was elected to the National Assembly.
Another candidate, Ishwari Neupane from Nepali Congress, had also filed a nomination for the post, who was proposed by Congress lawmaker Bishwa Prakash Sharma and was endorsed by Prakash Jwala of the CPN (Unified Socialist).
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Constitution makes it mandatory to elect the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives within 15 days of the House’s first meeting. The first meeting of the lower house, elected through the November 20 elections, was held on January 9.
Under Article 91 (2) of the Constitution, either the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker must be a woman and the occupants of the two posts must be from different parties. The Secretariat will publish the schedule for the election of the Deputy Speaker which is likely on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the election for the Deputy Speaker of the House is expected to take place on January 21.
