Agni Sapkota elected HoR Speaker

KATHMANDU, Jan 26: Agni Prasad Sapkota, a leader of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP), has been elected as the Speaker of the House of Representatives on Sunday.

Senior-most member of the House Mahantha Thakur announced his election as the speaker unopposed as per the HoR Regulation 2075, as his candidacy was not contested by others.

In the parliament meeting today, deputy leader of the parliamentary party of the ruling NCP Subash Nembang proposed Sapkota with the belief that he would work in a transparent and responsible manner by taking parliament in confidence.

The proposal was backed by party’s Chief Whip Dev Prasad Gurung, party leader and former Speaker Onsari Gharti and Rastriya Janata Party’s Laxman Lal Karna.

A meeting of HoR held on January 20 had decided to hold the election of Speaker today.

It may be noted that Sapkota has been accused of abducting and murdering Arjun Bahadur Lama of Kavrepalanchowk in 2005.

The Supreme Court was scheduled to conduct a hearing of a writ petition filed against Sapkota but postponed it since justice Hari Phyual had previously advocated against Sapkota on a case.

The post of Speaker had been vacant after Krishna Bahadur Mahara resigned from his post following a rape attempt allegation from a female staffer of the Parliament Secretariat.

The next meeting of the HoR is slated for 1 pm on January 28.