Election for Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) is scheduled for Friday. The process of election has moved forward following a political consensus between the ruling coalition parties.
The House is getting the Deputy Speaker just a few months before its term expires. The EC has already proposed the elections of the HoR for November.
At the HoR meeting on Wednesday, Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota directed the Parliament Secretariat to publish a detailed schedule of the election.
Following the Speaker’s directives, the secretariat published the election schedule on Wednesday itself. As per the schedule, the election of the Deputy Speaker will be held on Friday, July 15.
Speaker Sapkota announced that the election for the deputy speaker has been set for Friday.
The post of the Deputy Speaker has remained vacant since Shiva Maya Tumbahamhphe resigned on January 20, 2020 after the then ruling party Nepal Communist Party (NCP) decided to elect Sapkota as the Speaker. At that time both Sapkota and Tumbahamhphe represented the then NCP, and the constitution does not allow to elect the Speaker and Deputy Speaker from the same party.
Sapkota was elected as Speaker after Krishna Bahadur Mahara stepped down following allegations of attempted rape in October 2019.
As per this constitutional provision, the Deputy Speaker should be elected from the political parties except for CPN (Maoist Centre) as Speaker Sapkota belongs to the Maoist Centre.
According to the schedule made public by the HoR Secretariat, the nomination of the candidacy will take place from 11 am to 1 am on Thursday.
Similarly, the list of candidates will be published on Thursday itself and the HoR meeting at 3:00 pm on Friday will vote.
If there is only one proposal, s/he will be elected unopposed.
Citizenship Act Amendment Bill presented at House
Meanwhile, the Citizenship Act Amendment Bill has been presented at the House of Representatives (HoR) on Wednesday.
Home Minister Bal Krishna Khand presented the bill. However, the parliamentarians from the main opposition party UML, Bhim Rawal and Sher Bahadur Tamang and Prem Suwal from the Majdoor Kisan Party opposed the bill. The government had withdrawn the bill which was under consideration and registered a new bill in the parliament on July 9.
The disputed issues which were opposed earlier by the parliament and parliamentary committees and the issues raised in the report on the basis of majority are not included in the new bill. No amendment has been made to the existing system related to marital naturalized citizenship.
The bill has given continuity to the basic provisions made by the constitution of Nepal. The bill stipulates that the children of the citizens who have obtained Nepali citizenship on the basis of birth before September 20, 2015, will get the citizenship by decent if both the parents are Nepali citizens.
Children born to a Nepali woman who is married to a foreigner will get the citizenship by decent if both the mother and father are Nepali citizens at the time of acquiring citizenship.
If the parents and grandparents of the non-resident citizens are Nepali citizens, they will get citizenship without political rights.
Such citizens will be able to enjoy economic, social and cultural rights.
Similarly, the meeting has passed the Railway Bill and Drugs Third Amendment Bill as well as the bill related to the safety of health workers and health institutions.
The meeting has also sent the Yogamaya Ayurveda University Bill to the House committee for discussion.
Source : TRN,
