Reporters Club Event: Senior Leader of the Rashtriya Janata Party Laxman Lal Karna and the President of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee laid emphasis on the importance of resuming the work of the Parliament that has disrupted the work of all the committees.

Speaking in a special interaction program at the Reporters Club last week he said “The various committees in the parliament have not been able to carry out their duties. The main reason being the constitution states the Deputy Speaker can summon the house in case of the absence of the Speaker, but the power is limited to that and nothing more”.

“Why do we have a Deputy Speaker is because, in the absence of the Speaker, the Deputy should be able to discharge all related duties of the Speaker of the House. We have a Presidential system, wherein the case of the absence of the President the Vice-President should be able to discharge duties on behalf of the President. There are numerous loopholes in the constitution that do not allow discharge of active duties required to run the various committees and organs of the Parliament”.

“We have not been able to amend the constitution safeguarding the rights of the various minority communities, Madhesi and Jaanajaati’s, it has become necessary for the Speaker of the house to be present and a compulsion due to which committees have become defunct”.

“The plight of the nation today can be resolved only through the functioning of the Parliament. They have to summon the house and select a Speaker of the House, we have to call a convention or whatever is required by the Government of Nepal (GoN) but it has not taken any concrete action”.

“It takes 51% to select a Speaker, so the House of Representatives (HoR) can decide to hold internal discussions and move forward to decide and elect a new Speaker of the House. This is a necessity as all the work of committees has stopped functioning”.

“We have always been clear on the border dispute. There is no reason to be agitated within the country that will not resolve the issue. We need strong diplomatic efforts. Where is the GoN sleeping? We have to initiate dialogue, present evidence and secure our lands. We cannot delay this, and it seems that the GoN has not been actively involved to resolve the issue”.

“I have seen in social media that former PM Madhav Nepal has been appointed as the representative, but when is he going to go or not but that should be known by the GoN. Why is there a delay, there should not be any delay in critical issues like this” he said.

KATHMANDU, Oct 10: Resigning from the post of Speaker of the House of Representatives after a rape allegation, Krishna Bahadur Mahara is highly unlikely to be back. Information through a bulletin board has been put in the parliament, and the position now lies vacant. Members of the House of Representatives have now begun active parleys in order to get to the position.

According to the constitution of Nepal, you cannot have a deputy speaker and the speaker from the same political party. Since the united Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has the post of the Deputy Speaker represented by Ms. Shiva Maya Tumbahamphe, they either will have to ask her to resign or if they retain her the seat of the Speaker will go to someone outside the NCP.

NCP will no doubt formalize a plan to retain the position for the Speaker but that time will decide, and since the current position was filled in by the Prachanda faction of the NCP, there is a high chance of people close to his group stake claim for the coveted post.

Accordingly, various previous leaders of the NCP are also caving in, former Speaker of the Constituent Assembly Subhas Nembang, and Onsari Gharti Magar are seen to be the frontrunners. Similarly, leaders of the Prachanda faction Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and Janardhan Sharma are also seen as candidates for the post. The Speaker of the house plays an important role in maintaining the affairs of the house while in session and is responsible for its functioning and decorum, hence this position is highly sought after.