Province Assembly members take oath of office and secrecy

KATHMANDU, Jan 21: Province Assembly members have taken oath of office and secrecy on Sunday.

In Province 1, Province Chief Govinda Subba had administered oath to 74-year old member Om Prakash Sarawagi. Sarawagi had sworn-in 98 members at the Biratnagar-based Birendra City hall at 10:00 am this morning.

FOUR LANGUAGES USED IN OATH TAKING

Meanwhile, in Province 2, the oath taking ceremony was surrounded by confusion after a dispute over language to be used while swearing in. Thus, four languages, Nepali, Bhojpuri, Maithali and Hindi were used. Governor Ratneshwor Lal Kayastha administered oath to the province assembly members at Janakpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry hall.

In Province 3, Province Chief Anuradha Koirala administered oath to senior-most member Dor Mani Poudel, who later swore-in 110 members 110 members at Hetauda Province Secretariat.

MANANGE SKIPS CEREMONY

Province-4 Chief, Baburam Kunwar administered oath to senior-most member Janak Lal Shrestha this morning. The 67-year old Shrestha later administered oath of office and secrecy to 58 members (36 elected under first-past-the-post and 24 members elected under Proportional Representation category) at  Regional Administration Office Convention Hall, Pokhara.

However, Deepak Manange aka Rajiv Gurung skipped the oath taking ceremony. Manange was elected as the member from Manang-B as an independent candidate. The Supreme Court on January 16, upholding the Patan Appellate Court’s verdict, had sentenced Manange five-years in prison on charge of murder case.

However, Ram Bahadur Gurung was also absent in the swearing in ceremony as he is on a visit outside Nepal.

In Province 5, Province Chief Uma Kantha Jha administered oath of office and secrecy to Baldev Sharma. Sharma then swore-in 86 members at the Butwal Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hall.

In Province 6, Province governor Durga Keshar Khanal swore-in 68-years old Him Bahadur Shahi. Shahi then administered oath to 39 members.

Meanwhile, in Province 7, Province Chief Mohan Raj Malla will administer oath to 74-year old senior most member Dibyashwori Shah at 2:30 pm. Shah, then, will  swear-in 53 members at Kailali District Coordination Committee Hall. The ceremony was scheduled for 11 am today. But the oath taking was delayed for about 3 and a half hours since Malla could not reach there on time. Malla, who was in the capital to get sworn-in by the President, was about to leave to Dhangadhi on Saturday. But his flight was obstructed due to fog. He therefore went to the temporary capital of the district by bus, according to sources.

The newly appointed governors of the seven provinces had taken oath of office and secrecy from President Bidhya Devi Bhandari at Shital Niwas on January 19 themselves.