Parliament session with new public mandate commencing from tomorrow

By Narayan Neupane and Ashok Ghimire, Kathmandu, April 1: The House of Representatives (HoR), elected from the March 5 election, is convening for its first session on Thursday.     

The upcoming session, which is set to commence after the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) secured nearly a two-thirds majority, is being viewed being of importance both nationally and internationally.     

President Ramchandra Paudel has summoned the sessions of both houses of the Federal Parliament at 2:00pm on Thursday based on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers in accordance with the Constitution of Nepal.     

The session of the House of Representatives will be held in the multi-purpose hall of the under-construction Federal Parliament Building at Singha Durbar, while the meeting of the National Assembly will take place in the old building of the Federal Parliament Secretariat. This is the 20th session of the National Assembly.     

After the formation of the 601-member Constituent Assembly in 2007, the sessions of the House of Representatives, which have been held at the International Convention Centre in New Baneshwor, are now set to be held in the parliament building at Singha Durbar after 18 years.     

After the first general election held in 2015 B.S., parliamentary sessions had been taking place in the old parliament building (Gallery Hall) at Singha Durbar.     

The constitution provides that the President shall summon the session of the Federal Parliament within 30 days from the date the final result of the House of Representatives election is announced.     

The Election Commission had submitted the 'Report on the Election Results of the House of Representatives Member Election 2082' to the President on March 19.     

Through the election, the people have given the Rastriya Swatantra Party a mandate with nearly two-thirds majority to govern and steer the country ahead on the path of stability and prosperity.     

The Federal Parliament Secretariat has stated that all preparations have been completed in terms of physical, security, technical and manpower management for conducting the meetings of both houses.     

The seating arrangement for MPs in the meeting has been determined according to past traditions. According to the Parliament Secretariat's spokesperson Ekram Giri, in the House of Representatives, the seats for the MPs from the ruling party are arranged to the right in front of the Speaker's seat, the seats for the government in the centre, and seats for the opposition party MPs to the left in front of the Speaker's seat.     

According to this arrangement, the Prime Minister and the leader of the main opposition party will be seated close-by in the House of Representatives.     

In countries that have adopted democratic parliamentary system, the parliament is considered to belong to the opposition.     

Unlike previous sessions, this time members of the Council of Ministers and MPs from RSP, will be seated in seats in the section set aside for the ruling side while 93 members, including one independent will be seated in the section set aside for the opposition. Parliament is regarded as the supreme representative institution of the people.     

Election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker agenda of first session     

Since it is the first session of the House of Representatives, the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker will be the main business of the upcoming session.     

According to the constitutional provision, the members of the House of Representatives shall elect the Speaker and Deputy Speaker from among themselves within 15 days from the date of the first meeting of the House of Representatives. Either the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker must be from a different party and gender.     

In the first meeting of the House of Representatives, the senior-most MP presiding over the session will welcome the members of parliament and provide information regarding the calling of the session.     

The schedule for the election of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, as well as other agendas, will be determined based on the consensus reached in the all-party meeting. The Parliament Secretariat has called the all-party meeting today.     

This session has the responsibility to present and pass important bills such as the bills related to the Federal Civil Service Act, the Police Act, and the School Education Act, which have a direct interest in the implementation of federalism.     

It is mentioned that the Federal Civil Service bill will be drafted within 45 days as part of the 100-point Governance Reform Blueprint approved by the Cabinet meeting on March 27.     

In the 275-member House of Representatives, 165 members are elected through the first-past-the-post (direct) electoral system and 110 members through the proportional electoral system.     

The Rastriya Swatantra Party has 182 members, the Nepali Congress 38 members, the Nepal Communist Party of Nepal (UML) 25 members, the Nepali Communist Party (NCP) 17 members, the Shram Sanskriti Party seven, the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) five members and one independent MP in the HoR.     

In terms of gender representation, there are 179 male MPs and 96 women MPs in the House of Representatives. Reflecting the essence and sentiment of the Gen Z movement in September 2025 demanding generational change in politics, there is currently a predominance of young MPs in the parliament.     

As per the constitutional provision, President Paudel will address the joint session of both houses of the Federal Parliament in the first session of the House of Representatives following the election.     

Parliament and its main functions     

The Constitution of Nepal has provided for as a bicameral legislature of the Federal Parliament. The lower house of the federal parliament is called the House of Representatives and the upper house is called the National Assembly.     

The main responsibilities of the Federal Parliament are making laws on matters within the jurisdiction of the federation, formation of the government, and discussing on and passing the government policies and programmes, and budgets, making decisions on constitutional amendments and referendum, monitoring, directing and making recommendations on government activities, and approving international treaties and agreements.     

There are currently 10 different subject committees under the House of Representatives. The committees under the House of Representatives include the Finance Committee, the International Relations Committee, the Committee on Industry and Commerce, Labour and Consumer Interests, the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee, the Agriculture, Cooperatives and Natural Resources Committee, the Women and Social Affairs Committee, State Affairs Committee, the Good Governance, Development and Technology, Education and Health Committee, and Public Accounts Committee.     

The Parliamentary Hearing Committee and the Committee for the Implementation, Monitoring, and Evaluation of the State's Directive Principles, Policies and Responsibilities are the two joint committees of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly.     

The HoR formed after the fresh election could amend or modify parliamentary rules and alter the number of parliamentary committees.(RSS)