Five-year term of the House of Representatives constituted as per the new constitution is going to end on Saturday with the prorogation of its Summer session.
The term of the House was decided to end a day before the submission of the closed list of the candidates of the House of Representatives election under proportional representation category, and the Election Commission has fixed September 18 and 19 for the submission of the closed list.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari will probably prorogue the House session on the recommendation of the government effective from Saturday midnight.
The House of Representatives faced ups and downs in four and a half years after its first meeting held on March 5, 2018.
It saw two Speakers, two Prime Ministers and two Deputy Speakers. Moreover, it was dissolved twice and reinstated also twice.
KP Sharma Oli of the CPN-UML was sworn in as the new Prime Minister on February 15, 2018. He enjoyed almost two-third majority in the 275-member House. He was backed by the Maoist Centre and Upendra Yadav-led Janata Samajwadi Party. Later UML and Maoist Centre were unified creating a Nepal Community Party (NCP).
Krishna Bahadur Mahara of the Maoist Centre was elected Speaker on March 10, but he stepped down on October 1, 2019 over an alleged rape charge. Later in January 2020, Agni Prasad Sapkota was elected Speaker.
Likewise, the House saw two Deputy Speakers – Shiva Maya Tumbahamphe and Pushpa Bhusal. Bhusal was elected to the post only on July 16.
Prime Minister KP Oli dissolved the House twice, first on December 20, 2020 and later on May 22, 2021. But the Supreme Court reinstated the House both times. PM Oli was relieved from the post of PM on July 12, 2021 and Sher Bahadur Deuba of Nepali Congress became new PM.
During the first term of the House, political parties saw unification and split. The NCP broke into three parties while Janata Samajwadi Party, created by unifying the Madhes-based parties also saw split.
Of course, the first HoR saw many upheavals, due mainly the ego and tussle of the leaders.
The CPN-UML obstructed the House for about nine months after the formation of the government under Deuba. UML continued obstruction protesting against Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota until it suffered a defeat in the May 13 local level elections.
Source : TRN,
