Nepal gets first female speaker; Yadav elected new Deputy-Speaker
Kathmandu / October 16: UCPN (Maoist) lawmaker and former Deputy Speaker of the Legislature-Parliament Onsari Gharti Magar has been elected unopposed the House Speaker. With this, she has become the first female Speaker in the parliamentary history of Nepal.
She is the 8th Speaker elected in the parliament following the reinstatement of democratic system in 1989. Gharti was elected uncontested after Nepal Workers’ and Peasants’ Party candidate Anuradha Thapa Magar withdrew her candidacy for Speaker at the Legislature-Parliament meeting on Friday.
Senior most lawmaker Laxman Rajbanshi, who chaired the meeting, said Gharti was elected unanimously as there remained only one proposal for the post. Gharti was the immediate past Deputy Speaker in the former Constituent Assembly cum parliament. The CA transformed into a full parliament following the promulgation of the new constitution.
The proponents for Gharti’s candidacy as the House Speaker include CPN (UML) lawmaker Bidya Devi Bhandari, Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal lawmaker Kunti Kumari Shahi and Bahujan Shakti Party lawmaker Bishwendra Paswan. The main opposition party Nepali Congress had also lent is full support to Gharti.
Similarly, Ganga Prasad Yadav of Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal (RPP-N) has been elected the Deputy Speaker of the Legislature-Parliament after the commencement of the new constitution in the country.
The meeting of the Legislature-Parliament Friday elected him unopposed to the post. He was the sole candidate filing his candidacy for the same. CPN (UML)’s Shatrudhan Mahato proposed his candidacy while UCPN (Maoist)’s Rekha Sharma seconded it.
The senior most member of the parliament, Laxman Rajbanshi who chaired the meeting announced the unopposed election of Yadav to the post of Deputy Speaker. Although, Nepal Workers’ Peasants’ Party lawmaker Dilli Prasad Kafley had registered his candidacy for the post, he later withdrew it.
The next meeting of the Legislature-Parliament is scheduled for 15:00 pm Saturday on October 24. RSS