Provincial assemblies to hold first meet between Feb 1 -5

Published On: January 27, 2018 07:10 AM NPT By: Republica  | @RepublicaNepal


KATHMANDU, Jan 26: With the constitutional deadline for convening the first meetings of the provincial assemblies just 10 days away, most of the provincial governors have summoned the sessions of their respective provincial assemblies for the coming week and the week after. 

Although Province 1 and Province 5 are yet to decide the dates for their provincial assembly meetings, the other provinces have finalized a date prior to  February 5 for the first meeting of their  assemblies . Governors of Province 5 Umakanta Jha and Province 1 Govinda Subba said  they are planning to convene the first meetings for either February 4 or 5 after political consultations. 
Provinces 2, 6 and 7 have decided to hold the first meetings on February 4, Province 3 will do so on February 1 and Province 4 on the 5th. 

According to Article 183 of the constitution, the provincial governors should summon the first sessions of the provincial assemblies within 20 days of the announcement of  final results for the election of the  provincial assembly concerned. The Election Commission   submitted the  results of the provincial assembly polls  to the governors on January 17. 

Meanwhile, the parliament secretariat has decided to deploy at least four of its staffers to each provincial assembly secretariat to facilitate the initial meetings of the provincial assemblies. “As the parliament secretariat alone has the experience of managing parliamentary meetings, we have decided to deploy 28 of our staff including technicians to the seven provinces  for the smooth running of the provincial assembly meetings,” said Bharat Gautam, spokesperson of the parliament secretariat. 

The team will help the provincial assemblies with the election of their speakers and deputy speakers,  votes of confidence for the chief ministers  and other preliminary tasks, said Gautam.

The constitution has a mandatory provision that the speakers and deputy speakers must be from different political parties  and of different gender. As per Article 182 of the constitution, the election for speaker and deputy speaker must be held within 15 days of the first meeting of the provincial assembly. 
According to secretary at the Office of  Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Khagraj Baral, the government staff and logistics are expected to reach  the provincial capitals  after Sunday. 

Province 1     Feb 4, or 5
Province 2     Feb 4
Province 3     Feb 1
Province 4     Feb 5
Province 5     Feb 4, or 5
Province 6      Feb 4
Province 7    Feb 4


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