Candidacy filing for House of Representatives committee chairs begins today

Kathmandu. The filing of candidacies for the election of chairpersons of the thematic committees under the House of Representatives, scheduled for Friday, is taking place today, Thursday.

Parliamentary committees are often viewed as 'mini-parliaments.' The Federal Parliament Secretariat has already published the election schedule for the committee chairs.

According to the election program, proposals to elect a member of the respective committee as chairperson can be registered between 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM on Thursday.

Since committee members have already been nominated, the chairpersons will be selected from among them. Given the majority held by the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) in parliament, the RSP is set to win the chair of every committee if a vote is held. In this scenario, opposition parties are holding discussions to decide whether or not to field candidates for the positions.

'We are holding a meeting between leaders of the three parties to form a common stance from the opposition side,' said CPN-UML lawmaker and Vice-Chair Guru Baral. 'The decision on which party will field candidates for which committee will be finalized after the discussion.'

Similarly, Nepali Congress lawmaker Bhishma Angdembe also stated that a decision on whether to field candidates for committee chairs will be made after a three-party meeting at 12:00 PM. 'We are considering whether to determine a common opposition candidate if possible,' Angdembe said.

Meanwhile, the Rastriya Swatantra Party has also called a parliamentary party meeting for today. General Secretary Kabindra Burlakoti informed that the meeting was called to discuss the selection of chairpersons for the thematic committees of the Federal Parliament.

The selection process is underway for the chairs of 12 parliamentary committees under the House of Representatives of the Federal Parliament (including two joint committees).

According to RSP leaders, the party intends to retain the chairmanship of 11 committees, while preparing to offer the Public Accounts Committee to the opposition.