The Minister will formally submit his resignation letter in the Cabinet Meeting at 11 AM today.

“A cabinet meeting is taking place at 11 AM today. Minister Khatiwada will tender his resignation in the meeting,” said sources.

Earlier on March 3, Minister Khatiwada had resigned from his post after his two-year term in the National Assembly was expired.

However, President Bhandari reappointed Khatiwada as Finance Minister within 24 hours of resignation, as per Article 78 (1) of the constitution.

As per Article 79 of the constitution, the Cabinet Ministers who are not members of the House of Representatives (HoR) or the National Assembly (NA) should be appointed to either House within six months after assuming a portfolio.

But the possibility of Khatiwada to continue his services as Finance Minister has nullified as the recent Secretariat Meeting of NCP has decided to take Party’s Vice-chairman to the National Assembly.

According to the sources, Vice-Chairman Bamdev Gautam, General Secretary Bishnu Paudel, and Standing Committee members Janardan Sharma and Surendra Padey are in the run for the Finance Minister post.

Stay Tuned to NepaliSansar for Latest Political Updates!

The post FM Khatiwada to Tender his Resignation During Cabinet Meeting Today! appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The Parliamentary Hearing Committee (PHC) of the Federal Parliament approved Nepal’s senior most justice Rana’s name for the country’s top judicial post on January 01, 2019.

The new appointment followed a thorough PHC hearing procedure on December 29, 2018 and January 01, 2019.

Rana took up the new role after swearing the oath of office and secrecy in Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari’s presence on January 02, 2019 and will continue in his new role until four years.

The hunt for the new Chief Justice began when ex-Chief Justice Om Prakash Mishra retired due to expiration of age limit (65 years) for the said post.

Justice Rana’s Hearing Process

During the hearing process on January 01, 2019, Rana was asked a series of questions and queries by the Parliamentary panel including 10 members from the National Assembly and the House of Representatives.

Committee members asked Rana questions on his work plan and complaints reported against him.

On the first day of the hearing Rana presented his work plan that he is supposed to execute after becoming CJ.

Rana’s 10-point work plan encompasses improving the level of judicial responsibility & good governance, people’s access to justice and increasing Nepalis’ trust in judiciary case management & justice delivery.

Besides, he also extended his commitment to the regulatory body to curb corruption in the country.

However, the committee was not fully convinced on Rana’s ability to become Chief Justice.

PHC Committee Dissatisfied

“The PHC grilled Rana thoroughly on Sunday and today before recommending him for the post of CJ despite having doubts about his ability to become the CJ because of his track record,” said Laxman Lal Karna, PHC Chairman.

According to sources, the committee will frequently monitor Rana’s work as it was not satisfied with his clarifications on previous verdicts.

The PHC Committee received nine complaints against Rana, out of which two were serious concerns that lawmakers also consider as controversial verdicts.

“They pose a question mark on Rana’s ability to become chief justice,” said Lawmaker, Neeru Devi Pal.

“Rana should not treat the clearance given by the committee as a ‘carte blanche’. “If he fails to execute his tasks properly, the Parliament will not let him go scot-free,” said Surendra Pandey, Nepal Communist Party (NCP) Lawmaker.

In his defense Rana said that the verdicts were made in accordance with the provisions of the law.

“The three organs of the state should function independently. The SC will not create hurdles for the government to initiate and execute development work if those actions do not violate the country’s laws and the constitution,” added Rana.

All said and done, Nepali Sansar wishes the Honorable Chief Justice good luck for his new role!

Chief Justice Rana Will Not Assign Cases to SJ Joshee
Newly-appointed Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana assumed office on January 02, 2018.

Following his appointment, Rana announced that he will not be assigning any cases to senior-most justice Deepak Raj Joshee at a press briefing.

Earlier, the Parliamentary Hearing Committee (PHC) had rejected Joshee’s nomination for the post of Chief Justice on August 03, 2018.

Speaking to the media, Rana said, “I haven’t assigned any case to senior-most justice Deepak Raj Joshee. I shall not assign him any cases in future either.”

The new Chief Justice explained that he took the decision following his commitment and respect for PHC.

“Even though he is my good friend and the senior-most justice, I took this stern decision because we need to respect the system and make headway with the problems facing the judiciary,” he further said.

Despite the presence of all the SC judges during the press briefing, Joshee was absent from the event.

However, Joshee said that he would continue to come to office since he had a lot more to do.

“I shall come to office continuously because I still have so much I need to do,” said Joshee.

Besides, Chief Justice Rana also assured media that the judiciary will be more stronger and united.

“We were not divided even in the past. There was no factionalism and groupism as such. But there is criticism at the level of the public that we are divided and that groupism was rife within the judiciary. Look at us here. We are all here at the press conference.” he said.

On his first day at work, Rana reshuffled benches for assigning cases to justices even when they could not hear many cases because of their busy schedule following the new CJ’s appointment.

Rana also asked media to deal sensitively with comments on tasks of judges and court activities while exercising their freedom of opinion on judicial matters.

About Cholendra Shumsher JB Rana
Earlier, Rana served as an appellate court judge beginning April, 1996 and a Supreme Court justice from May 26, 2014.

Justice Cholendra Shamsher became the Supreme Court’s permanent justice in 2071 BS.

The post Rana Appointed Nepal Chief Justice Amid Debate appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The members of the thematic parliamentary committees are all set to get their chairpersons today after nominating the representing candidates on August 28, 2018.

The Three Committees:
According to NA Secretary Rajendra Phuyal, Lawmaker Parshuram Gurung was the only candidate applying to the Legislation Management Committee Chairperson post.

Ram Narayan Bidari signed up as Delegated Management & Government Assurance Committee Chair, while Lawmaker Dil Kumari Rawal Thapa has filed her candidacy for the National Concern & Coordination Committee Chair.

The three thematic committees will be headed by members of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP), whereas the fourth committee will be headed by the opposition Nepali Congress (NC).

Candidacy for Sustainable Development & Good Governance Chair:
NA is yet to conduct nominations for the Sustainable Development & Good Governance Committee Chairperson. The nominee will be picked soon after the election of the three committees.

The Nepali Congress was unable to produce its candidate for the vacancy of the aforementioned post on August 28, 2018, as it could not finalize on its representative.

According to sources, NC Parliamentary Party Leader Sher Bahadur Deuba wanted Taradevi Bhatta to represent the Sustainable Development & Good Governance but since Bhatta is already a member of the National Concern & Coordination Committee, it was not possible.

Conclusion:
The NA Panel Elections had been pushed for 10 days later, as top leaders of the ruling and opposition were discussing the possibility of sharing leadership of the parliamentary committees.

We hope that the newly elected chairpersons will stay true to their duties of the given parliamentary committees and add to Nepal’s zealous development efforts.

The post Nepal Assembly Parliamentary Committees Chair Elections, Today! appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

In another interesting move, Nepal’s Federal Parliament turned down the UNDP’s USD 5.9 million worth ‘Parliamentary Support Project’

The five-year project was signed between Manohar Bhattarai from the Parliament Secretariat and Renaud Meyer representative of UNDP on April 23, 2018.

UNDP has been providing logistic support and capacity enhancement since 2008 through this project, says a Parliament Secretariat official.

This move comes as a measure to protect Nepal laws that do not favor foreign aid in national business.

In a meeting, House of Representatives Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara told the Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli that foreign aid was not a Parliament issue, rather a government-related subject.

“The government should deal with issues related to foreign aid.

It does not fall under our jurisdiction,” says Mahara.

In the course of their meeting, Mahara advised that the project amount be diverted to the construction of a permanent Parliament building instead of investing on logistic support for lawmakers and secretariats of the National Assembly along with seven provincial assemblies and the Parliament.

The main aim of this project is to support the formulation of practices and procedures within the Federal Parliament and Nepal’s provincial assemblies, which reflect international best practices in terms of transparency, inclusivity, accountability and effectiveness.

“By working to establish a more accountable, transparent, inclusive and effective parliamentary system, it is possible to address a critical aspect of the domestic systems that are required to ensure full development of Nepal,” reads the agreement.

As a secondary benefit, this project will also build close relationships between the constitutionally-mandated democratic institutions in Nepal, and each province and will assess how the former will be used to aid the UN and other development co-assistants in doing their work on behalf of Nepali citizens.

The post UNDP Aid to Nepal: After SC, Now Parliament Says ‘No’ appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Out of the 59 NA members, while 56 were elected from seven provinces, eight got shortlisted from each province followed by three recommendations nominated by the President.

Results of the Draw

Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and National Assembly Chairman Ganesh Timilsina received a six-year tenure, while Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada drew a two-year term.

Women Members of the National Assembly

The tenure of Nepal National Assembly’s women members has also been determined through a lottery system.

According to the draw conducted at the Federal Parliament in New Baneshwor, Bina Pokharel, Dil Kumar Rawal, Pramila Kumari, Deepa Gurung, Nanda Chhapai, Anita Devkota and Indu Kadariya have been elected for a six-year tenure.

Following both categories, Dhan Kumari Khatiwada, Sarita Prasain, Mukta Kumari Yadav, Mina Budha, Kamal Kumari Oli, Yutal Tamang and Binda Devi Ale are slated for a two-year term.In a similar way, Shashikala Dahal, Shanti Kumari Adhikari, Taradevi Bhatta, Nainkala Ojha, Udaya Sharma Poudel and Komal Oli have been appointed for four-year period.

The Selection Process

Murari Mahat, Joint Secretary at the Parliament Secretariat, refers to Article 86 (3) of the Nepali constitution, which recommends:

The first parliament formed according to the new constitution determines the tenure of NA members in a way that one-third members provide service for six years, one-third for four years and one-third members fulfill a two-year tenure. Members for the six and four-year terms include 20 members, while two-year term members account for 19 members.

Addressing the media on June 17, 2018, Rajendra Phuyal, Secretary of the National Assembly Secretariat, said the Parliament Secretariat will have boxes for each cluster and members who represent the cluster will have to draw lots from the same cluster.

He further added that there will be different boxes for each cluster, Dalits, differently-abled, women, and people from the minority communities besides separate box for 21 members; three of which from each province, elected from the open category.

The post Nepal National Assembly: Draw Selects 56 Members for 7 Provinces appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The electoral process that was held on February 07, 2018 saw 52 candidates of different political parties who were fielded for a total of 32 seats in Provinces 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Nepal’s National Assembly has a total of 59 members, of which, 56 will be elected through the electoral college that includes assembly members of seven provinces, chiefs and deputy chiefs of municipalities and rural municipalities.

The other three members will be selected by the President in line with the government recommendations.

The electoral college of Nepal comprises of 2, 056 voters, 1,506 mayors and deputy mayors of various municipalities, along with the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of rural municipalities.

The National Assembly election saw a total of 1,677 voters, 1,234 local-level officials and 443 Provincial Assembly members of the six provinces.

This election for Upper House is coming after the country has recently seen its long-awaited elections that saw election of members for various provinces and House of Representatives.

Key to Final Results

The current election holds significance owing to its key role in announcing the final results of the recently-concluded federal and provincial polls held on November 26, 2017 and December 06, 2017.

Following the vote counting of this election, the Election Commission will submit final results to the President. Following this, the commencement of Parliament and election of the new Prime Minister of Nepal will take place.

The Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) leader K P Sharma Oli has been named for the Prime Minister candidature.

The post Nepal National Assembly Elections Conclude in Six Provinces appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The FPTP election vote count for 165 House of Representatives (HoR) and 330 Provincial Assembly (PA) seats declared the victory of the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN)-Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) in the recent polls.

With 80 HoR seats & 167 PA seats by UML and 36 HoR & 74 PA seats by its poll partner CPN (Maoist Centre), the left alliance finally emerged as the single largest party as per the FPTP results.

With this, the ruling Nepali Congress (NC) could find its presence only in 23 HoR and 41 PA constituencies, followed by Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal (RJP-Nepal) that received 11 HoR and 16 PA seats.

While the independents proved their presence in 1 HoR constituency and 3 PA constituencies, 6 women candidates made it to HoR.

According to EC, the vote counting of both HoR and National Assembly has come to final stages with 164 parliamentary and 329 provincial representatives elected so far in the polls held for 165 parliamentary and 330 provincial seats.

PR Counting Underway

Overall, the left alliance won 116 of 165 FPTP seats for HoR and was leading the Proportional Representation (PR) count, held for 60 districts, for 110 seats.

Out of the 7,684,328 PR votes counted so far, “CPN-UML has so far secured 2,631,991 votes followed by NC (2,546,069), CPN-MC (1,045,446), Federal Socialist Forum Nepal (351,525) and the RJP-Nepal (295,448),” informed Nepal Election Commission (EC) Spokesperson Nawaraj Dhakal.

The PR vote counting is currently underway in around 17 districts and the final PR result is expected by December 15, 2017 evening.

Once the parties submit their HoR winners under PR category, EC will take the process ahead to President for further approval before making the list public.

Decline in Women Representatives

The number of directly-elected women to the HoR seats under the FPTP category has decreased this time as only 6 women candidates made it to HoR.

This number indicates a gradual decline in women representatives in Nepali elections over a period.

While the first Constituent Assembly (CA) elections in 2008 saw 30 women representatives, the number declined to 10 in 2013 CA elections, and now it has come down to 6.

This situation lies in contrast to the constitutional rules that recommend 33 percent women representatives in the House.

This time, only three parties including CPN-UML, CPN-MC and Rastriya Janamorcha the winning female candidates.

While UML had only 3 female winners in a total of 80 FPTP seats, CPN-MC also saw a similar number among its 36 total FPTP winners.

Meanwhile, the ruling NC party saw the failure of its 9 female candidates fielded for HoR seats.

Brainstorming Begins

With the results announced, now the winner leftist alliance is brainstorming on the formation of the new Nepali government with key discussions on power-sharing, among others.

According to the senior left leaders, KP Oli, UML Chairman and the next PM of Nepal (likely), and the MC Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also called Prachanda, are likely to hold discussions during December 14-15, 2017 over the formation of new government at the Center.

While some experts feel the formation of central government will be possible only after Assembly results, UML feels that the Assembly (Upper House) election will not be an issue and aims at the formation by the end of December 2017.

Following the formation, the President will call for the first Federal Parliament session under the new government, within 30 days of the declaration of final results of HoR as recommended by the Nepali Constitution.

The post Nepal General Election 2017: Left Alliance Wins FPTP Polls, New Govt Likely by Dec End appeared first on Nepali Sansar.