Nepal Parliament to elect House Speaker today

Kathmandu [Nepal], January 19 (ANI): Nepal's Federal Parliament is set to elect the new House Speaker on Thursday, as per the schedule published by the parliament secretariat.
The parliament proceedings will include the voting process to elect the house speaker as two candidates are in the fray.
On Wednesday, Dev Raj Ghimire from the Communist Party of Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and Ishwari Neupane from Nepali Congress filed their nominations for the post.
Neupane's candidacy was proposed by Congress lawmaker Bishwa Prakash Sharma and was endorsed by Prakash Jwala of the CPN (Unified Socialist).
The Congress and the Unified Socialist, both of which had voted for Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal during a floor test in Parliament on January 10, had earlier decided to field their own candidate against the ruling alliance's candidate for Speaker.
Ghimire's candidacy, on the other hand, was proposed by UML lawmaker Subash Chandra Nembang and seconded by CPN (Maoist Centre) lawmaker Hitraj Pandey, Rastriya Swantantra Party President Rabi Lamichhane and Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Rajendra Lingden.
UML's candidate for the house speaker- Ghimire is elected from Jhapa-2 and is a member of the standing committee and party in charge of Province 1. He was elected to the National Assembly in 1999.
Ghimire's election looks almost inevitable if the lawmakers of the parties that have proposed and seconded his candidacy vote for him.
The four parties combined have 145 lawmakers--the UML, the second largest party in the House, has 79 lawmakers, the Maoist Centre 32, the RSP 20 and the RPP has 14 lawmakers. Just 138 votes are enough for a win in the 275-strong lower house.
The other candidate, Neupane, so far is sure to receive the support of 105 lawmakers of the Congress, the Unified Socialist and the Loktantrik Samajbadi Party. Congress leaders have, meanwhile, claimed that the Janata Samajbadi Party will also vote for its candidate.
A member of the House under the proportional representation category from Kailali, Neupane is a Congress central working committee member. She had long been in the leadership of the party's women's wing.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari on December 25 appointed Maoist Centre chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal as prime minister after he showed he has the support of 169 lawmakers including those from the JSP.
The constitution makes it mandatory to elect the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives within 15 days of the House's first meeting. The first meeting of the lower house, elected through the November 20 elections, was held on January 9.
As per Article 91 (2) of the Constitution, either the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker must be a woman and the occupants of the two posts should be from different parties. The secretariat on Thursday will publish the schedule for the election of the Deputy Speaker which is likely on Saturday. (ANI)