Province 7 unveils schedule for election of speaker

DHANGADHI, Feb 5: The State Assembly Secretariat in Province 7 on Monday has published the schedule of election of a speaker.

As per the schedule agreed on by the first meeting of State Assembly on Sunday, the election will start at 1:00 pm on February 12.

The registration of candidacy (ies) will take place from 2:00 to 5:00 pm on February 10 and the name list of candidate(s) will be published at 5:30 pm on the same day. The time for opposing candidature (s) has been fixed from 10:00 am -12:00 noon on February 11 and scrutiny of nominations will be carried out from 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm same day before issuing the revised name list.

The time for withdrawal of candidature(s) will be from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm and the final name list will be published at 5:00 pm a day before the election, according to Secretariat joint secretary Murari Mahat.

The left alliance has a majority in Province 7 that comprises nine districts in the far-western region. As per the power sharing agreement reached between CPN (Maoist Center) and CPN-UML, the chief minister will be from Maoist Center while the post of a speaker will be held by the UML in Province 7.

It may be noted that Maoist Center province committee meeting few days ago proposed the name of party’s State Assembly member from Doti, Trilochan Bhatta, as a Chief Minister in Province 7.

In the 53-member State Assembly in this province, 25 seats are held by UML, 14 by Maoist Center, 14 by the Nepali Congress and two by the Rastriya Janata Party Nepal.