Nominations Filed for Chairmanship of House of Representatives Parliamentary Committees

The election process for chairmanship of the ten Parliamentary Committees under the House of Representatives has been set in motion as nominations from various political parties were officially registered today.

As confirmed by the Federal Parliament Secretariat, nominations were submitted by key political parties including Nepali Congress, CPN (UML), CPN (Maoist Centre), Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, Janata Samajwadi Party, CPN (Unified Socialist), and Janamat Party.

Among the ten committees, nine have a sole candidate vying for the chairmanship, while the Industry and Commerce, as well as the Labor and Consumer Welfare Committees, have two contenders each for the leadership position.

The registered nominations include Santosh Chalise from Nepali Congress for the Finance Committee chairmanship, Rajkishore Yadav from Janata Samajwadi for the International Relations and Tourism Committee chairmanship, Abdul Khan from Janamat and Ganesh Parajuli from RSWAPA for the Industry and Commerce, as well as the Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee chairmanships, respectively.

Additionally, Bimala Subedi from the Maoist Center was nominated for the Law, Justice and Human Rights Committee chairmanship, Arzu Rana Deuba from Nepali Congress for the Agriculture, Cooperative and Natural Resources Committee chairmanship, Kiran Kumar Sah for the Women and Social Affairs Committee, and Ramhari Khatiwada for the State Order and Good Governance Committee chairmanship.

Further nominations included Deepak Bahadur Singh from RPP for the Infrastructure Development Committee, Bhanubhakta Joshi from the Unified Samajwadi Party for the Education, Health and Information Technology Committee, and Rishikesh Pokharel from CPN (UML) for the Public Accounts Committee.

The long-awaited process of selecting the leadership for these parliamentary committees commenced only nine months after the election of the House of Representatives. The absence of committee leadership has hindered the effectiveness of their functions, often referred to as a ‘mini parliament.’

Secretary Padmaprasad Pandey confirmed the election schedule, which enables a committee member to be elected as the chairman with the support of another member between 11 am and 4 pm today. Currently, the committees are being chaired by senior members as the leadership selection process unfolds.