Bagmati Province Assembly Convenes Budget Session on June 11; Speaker Election Pending

Makwanpur. The budget (monsoon) session of the Bagmati Province Assembly has been called for June 11. At the recommendation of the provincial government, Province Chief Deepak Prasad Devkota has convened the provincial assembly session for 1 PM on June 11. The session has been called primarily to discuss the government's policy and program and the budget. It is also necessary to elect a speaker during this session. The post of Speaker of the Bagmati Province Assembly has been vacant for 8 months. Former Speaker Bhuwan Kumar Pathak resigned from his post on October 1 last year. Although he announced his resignation from social media on August 24 during the Janji movement, he sent the formal letter on October 1. The Province Assembly Secretariat made the formal notification of the resignation public about two months later, on November 4. Although Deputy Speaker Apsara Chapagain has been conducting the assembly and leading the Business Management Committee, the absence of a speaker has affected the province's constitutional processes. According to the assembly members, the absence of a speaker has added complexity to constitutional appointments. Recently, the appointment of a member to the Provincial Public Service Commission was recommended without a speaker. It is feared that the upcoming session, like previous sessions, will proceed without leadership due to internal power balance and disagreements among political parties. What happened in the winter session? The winter session of the Bagmati Province Assembly, which ran from April 7 to April 19, decided to send 2 bills for general discussion to the committee. According to Prakash Chapagain, spokesperson of the Province Assembly Secretariat, 2 bills were registered and presented in the parliament during that session. Chapagain stated that the Province Disaster Management Bill, for managing disasters and accountability in the province, and the Drinking Water and Sanitation Bill, for managing drinking water and sanitation within the province, have been sent to the parliamentary committee for clause-wise discussion. He said that both bills have been sent to the Finance and Development Committee for clause-wise discussion. He mentioned that a total of 4 meetings were held during the winter session. According to him, the Province Assembly meetings were held on April 7, 8, 9, and April 19. During those meetings, members of parliament expressed their views on contemporary and public interest issues during special times, and various reports registered in the parliament were also presented. Additionally, the issue of the speaker's resignation was read out in the parliament. According to spokesperson Chapagain, the election of the speaker is one of the main tasks of the upcoming session. He said that the speaker could not be elected in the winter session due to a lack of consensus among political parties. He stated that the deputy speaker has been leading the parliament in the absence of a speaker. He clarified that the main responsibilities of the upcoming session will be to advance the bills in the parliament, present and pass the budget, and elect the speaker.