Nepal Parliament meeting postponed for third time over vacant speaker post

The Lower House of Nepal Parliament was postponed for the third time since December last year on Sunday over the election of a new Parliament Speaker. Deputy Parliament Speaker Shiva Maya Tumbahamphe announced the postponement of the House of Representatives meeting until January 20.

The postponement, the third since the winter session commenced on December 20, follows the ruling Nepal Communist Party's (NCP) failure to decide on a speaker candidate. A secretariat meeting of the ruling party on Saturday had asked Deputy Speaker Tumbahamphe to resign.

But Tumbahamphe turned down the party's directive to quit, saying she won't step down until the party makes her the candidate for Parliament Speaker. The post of Parliament Speaker has remained vacant since Krishna Bahadur Mahara stepped down from the post, following attempt to rape allegation against him on October 7 last year.

The NCP wants to elect a new candidate for the post of speaker and asked Tumbahamphe to resign. According to Nepal's Constitution, the Parliament Speaker and Deputy Speaker cannot be from the same party.

Tumbahamphe has alleged "male domination" by the party. Meanwhile, Opposition Nepali Congress has objected to Deputy Speaker Tumbahamphe's decision to postpone the Parliament meeting till Monday next week, January 20.

Last month, the meeting was postponed twice as the ruling party could not decide its speaker candidate. Nepali Congress spokesperson Bishwa Prakash Sharma, in a statement, said the ruling party was holding the House hostage due to its internal dispute.

Nepali Congress has urged the ruling party to begin the procedure to elect the new speaker at the earliest. Former Parliament Speaker Subhash Nembang and ruling NCP's Standing Committee member Agni Sapkota are the probable candidates for the speaker post.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)