Newly elected chairman of the National Assembly, Narayan Dahal, took the oath at the Office of the President in Sheetal Niwas on Tuesday. (Photo: the Office of the President)
Newly elected chairman of the National Assembly, Narayan Prasad Dahal, has taken the oath of office and secrecy.
President Ram Chandra Paudel administered the oath to newly appointed Dahal amidst a ceremony organized at the Office of the President in Sheetal Niwas on Tuesday.
Dahal, the lawmaker of the CPN (Maoist Center), was elected as the new chairman of the Upper House this afternoon with the backing of the new ruling coalition. The new coalition consists of CPN (UML), Maoist Center, Rastriya Swatantra Party, CPN (Unified Socialist) and Janta Samajbadi Party (JSP).
Thirty-nine lawmakers cast votes for the motion that Dahal should be made the chairman of the Nationl Assembly while 17 lawmakers cast votes against the motion.
Dahal’s rival Yubaraj Sharma of main opposition Nepali Congress recived 17 votes incuding 16 from his party and one from Loktantrik Samajbadi Party. The voting was held through the 'voice vote' method in the meeting of the National Assembly today.
The 59-member National Assembly has currently 58 lawmakers. One MP remained neutral, Deputy Chairperson Urmila Aryal, who chaired the meeting, did not cast vote, and the remaing one MP is yet to be nominated by the President on the recommendation of the government.
President administered the oath to Dahal in accordance with the Rule 217 (A) of the National Assembly Regulations, 2075. High-ranking officials including Vice President Ram Sahaya Prasad Yadav, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachnda’, Chief Justice Bishowambhar Prasad Shrestha, Speaker Devraj Ghimire among others were present in the oath-taking ceremony.
