Mahara elected HoR Speaker unopposed

KATHMANDU, March 9: CPN (Maoist Center) leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara has been elected the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the lower house of a bicameral federal parliament of Nepal unopposed.

He was elected to the post unopposed as he was the lone candidate for the post, as stated by the Federal Parliament Secretariat. However, an official announcement about it will take place at a meeting of the House of Representatives scheduled for Saturday– the day election of Speaker was fixed.

Earlier today, Mahara registered his candidacy for the position, which was supported by CPN-UML leader and former Speaker Subash Chandra Nembang, and seconded by Maoist Center leader Dev Gurung.

The main opposition Nepali Congress did not field any candidate on behalf of the party for the post. The party said that it decided not to file the candidacy as it strongly believed that a Speaker of the House of Representatives should be elected unanimously.

As per the election schedule of a Speaker, the time for filing the candidacy was set from 10:00 am from 1:00 pm today.