Preparations complete for swearing-in of HoR members

By A Staff Reporter, Kathmandu, Mar. 25: All preparations for the swearing-in of the members of the House of Representatives (HoR) have been completed. The Federal Parliament Secretariat is all set to welcome 275 newly elected lawmakers. 

The HoR members elected in the March 5 polls will take the oath of office at 2:00 pm on Thursday. 

Arjun Narassingh KC, 78, a HoR member elected under the proportional representation (PR) system from the Nepali Congress (NC), will take the oath of office on Wednesday as the senior-most member of the House. 

He will be administered the oath by President Ramchandra Paudel at the President’s official residence, Sheetal Niwas. 

Then, KC will administer the oath to the remaining 274 members on Thursday at the Federal Parliament building. 

Since the construction of the main hall in the parliament building is still under way and will take some time to complete, a multi-purpose hall, within the same building, will be used for now, the Federal Parliament Secretariat informed. 

According to Article 88 of the Constitution, every HoR member must take the oath before attending any meeting of the House or its committees.

Likewise, Article 91 (5) stipulates that the senior-most member shall chair the House proceedings until the Speaker and Deputy Speaker are elected or in case those positions fall vacant. 

The HoR elections were held on March 5. After the announcement of results under the both the first-past-the-post and proportional representation systems, the Election Commission has already distributed certificates to the elected members. 

The secretariat has requested all HoR members to arrive at the venue in formal or cultural attire at least two hours in advance.

In the March 5 poll, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) emerged the largest with 182 seats in HoR, while the NC was second with 38 seats, the CPN UML third with 25 seats, the Nepali Communist Party (NCP) was fourth with 17 seats, the Shram Sanskriti Party was fifth with seven seats, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party was sixth with five seats and one independent winner. 

Following the oath-taking, the process of government formation will begin. The RSP, as the largest party, is in the final stage of selecting ministers for the new government, which is expected to be led by senior leader and former Kathmandu mayor Balendra Shah.

Shah is likely to take the oath of office as Prime Minister on Friday. A small Council of Ministers is also expected to be formed the same day.