CPN (Maoist Center) leader Urmila Aryal has been elected as the vice chairperson of the National Assembly (NA).
NA chairperson Ganesh Timalsina announced that Aryal was elected as the vice chairperson of the upper house of the Federal Parliament.
Aryal was elected as the NA vice chair unopposed after the main opposition Nepali Congress also extended support to her by not fielding its candidate for the post.
Fielded as a common candidate by the ruling coalition, Narayan Kaji Shrestha proposed Aryal as a candidate for the post while her candidacy was seconded by Devendra Dahal and Khim Lal Devkota.
She had won the NA elections for women through Madhesh Province held on January 26 last year.
The post of the vice chairperson of the upper house had been lying vacant for the last one year after then Vice Chairperson Shashikala Dahal’s tenure expired last year.
Aryal began her political career in the early 1990s by joining the CPN (UML) and also became a minister in the Jhala Nath Khanal-led government in 2011. Later in 2013, she defected to the Maoist Center.
In the National Assembly, there are 16 lawmakers from CPN (UML), and 15 from CPN (Maoist Center). Similarly, main opposition Nepali Congress has 10, CPN (Unified Socialist) has eight, Janata Samajbadi Party has three and Loktantrik Samajbadi Party and Rastriya Janamorcha Nepal have one each.
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