27 Chait, Kathmandu. The first session of the House of Representatives in 2082 lasted for 9 days. 6 meetings were held in 9 days. The session that started on March 19 and ended on March 27 elected the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The election of the Speaker was held on 22 March. Dol Prasad Aryal was elected unopposed as Speaker. On March 27, the election of the Deputy Speaker was held. RPP’s Saraswati Lama and Shram Sanskriti Party’s Rubi Kumari Thakur were candidates for Deputy Speaker. Thakur, who got the support of the Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RASWPA), was elected as the Deputy Speaker.

In addition, this convention formed a 21-member working arrangement consultation committee.

During this period, the House of Representatives has formed all parliamentary committees. In the assembly meeting held on Friday, Speaker Aryal proposed the names of the members to be in the parliamentary committee. which was approved by the Assembly.

There are 16 parliamentary thematic committees under the Federal Parliament. There are four parliamentary thematic committees under the National Assembly. Those committees have already been formed.

There are 10 subject committees under the House of Representatives. The remaining two are joint committees. At the meeting of the House of Representatives held on Friday, he presented a proposal for the formation of all these committees, which was approved by the House.

The election of the chairman of the parliamentary committee could not be held in the current session. Speaker Aryal has announced the election of the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for the coming 4th of Baisakh.

In addition, a 15-member draft committee has been formed to prepare the House of Representatives regulations. The regulations made by the draft committee led by Raswap MP Ganesh Parajuli will be implemented after the House of Representatives passes them. This work has been moved to the next session.

In addition, emergency time, zero time, special time were held in the assembly, where MPs drew the attention of the government on current issues. MPs asked Prime Minister Balen Shah for answers on some issues. But they could not get an answer from Prime Minister Balen.

tradition was broken

In the past, it was a tradition for the Prime Minister to give a brief address from the rostrum on the first day of the post-election session. Through which the Prime Minister used to convey the government’s priorities, policies and political messages. But this time such practice could not be continued.

In the first meeting held on March 19, the top leaders gave their best wishes. On that day, party chairman Ravi Lamichhane made a statement on behalf of the ruling party, but Balen’s address as the prime minister was not addressed.

On the same day, constitutionalist Dr. Bipin Adhikari commented that there was something wrong with the absence of the Prime Minister’s address in Parliament.

In today’s first meeting, the leader of the Parliament also had the right to give a brief address to the Prime Minister. This year, the ruling party president and the prime minister are different people, so the need for it was seen,’ he said, ‘many people felt as if the prime minister was absent. However, let’s hope that the Prime Minister will demand that right after the Speaker’s election.’

However, the Prime Minister did not address during the session.

Scholars say that they have never seen a parliament session end without a speech by the Prime Minister of Nepal.

After being elected after the new election, the prime minister has neither addressed the people nor spoken in the parliament. It looked new. I have not seen this before,’ he said to Online Khabar.

According to Nepal, after taking the oath of Prime Minister in 2015, the then Prime Minister BP Koirala addressed the citizens on radio. The address has also been published separately. Even after 2046, it was customary for the Prime Minister to address.

The tradition of the Prime Minister being the proposer in the Speaker’s election has also been broken this time. This time, the Speaker of the House, Aryal, proposed the RSVP Chairman Lamichhane.

Scholar Nepal says, ‘When proposing a name to the Speaker, it was customary for the Prime Minister to be the proposer or give congratulations. This time it was not even seen.’

Why is the Prime Minister’s speech important?

The Chairman of the ruling party RSVP and the Prime Minister are different people. In the past, the party chief was often the leader of the parliamentary party and the prime minister. In such a situation, when the Prime Minister addressed it, it was considered the official view or vision of the government.

Scholar Nepal says that many people are looking for the Prime Minister’s direct address because the President and the Prime Minister are different people. In his view, there are other reasons that the Prime Minister should address in Parliament.

First: The Prime Minister is also the leader of the Parliament. It is the prime minister’s responsibility to inform the parliament about how the parliament is going and what the government’s priorities are and to earn its trust.

Second: The parliamentarians themselves also sought answers from the Prime Minister on various issues.

Third: Citizens wanted to hear the Prime Minister’s speech, which could not be fulfilled.

According to Suriyakiran Gurung, former Secretary General of the Parliament Secretariat, the Prime Minister’s parliamentary address is not just a formality, it is necessary for political guidelines. It is also an opportunity to clarify the government’s priorities and strategy. The subject of public responsibility is also added to this. Because, Parliament is the place where the Prime Minister demonstrates accountability to the people.

In addition, the international community is also waiting for the Prime Minister’s speech. He says, ‘How will Nepal’s foreign policy be now? What kind of economic policy is Nepal taking? The world community is waiting to see what the Nepalese government’s approach will be in this regard.’

Naturally, high expectations are expected from a government formed with the support of about two-thirds of a single party. In such a situation, the questions about where the Prime Minister wants to take the country, what is the roadmap for economic-social transformation and what will be the attitude of Nepal in international relations were raised in the House of Representatives.

According to Gurung, former Secretary General of the Parliament, the questions addressed by the Prime Minister are the same, ‘What is the overall vision of the Prime Minister? How is the nation trying to move forward? How is a single government with two-thirds majority driving the country? What kind of relief is being given to the people?’

However, these questions and curiosity remained the same this time.