Speaker to elect Committee Chair as Congress struggles to decide nominee

KATHMANDU: The selection of the chairperson for the crucial Parliamentary Committee on State Affairs and Good Governance remains in limbo due to internal indecision within the main opposition, Nepali Congress.

Speaker Devraj Ghimire, citing the mandatory provisions of parliamentary rules, has emphasized that further delay is not permissible and intends to commence the election process on Monday.

The committee has been without leadership since former chair Ramhari Khatiwada resigned on 28 Shrawan, following controversies over the “cooling-off period” clause in the Federal Civil Service Bill and the parliamentary probe committee’s findings. Since then, Speaker Ghimire has been awaiting Congress’s decision to nominate a candidate.

According to the Speaker’s Secretariat, Ghimire had planned to release the election schedule on Sunday.

However, with no other party raising claims for the chair, Congress’s inability to finalize its nominee halted the process.

Despite repeated communications between the Speaker and Congress chief coordinator Shyam Ghimire, the party reportedly informed that the decision on the candidate would only be finalized in its Monday morning executive meeting, delaying the publication of the notice.

“Parliamentary rules mandate that the notice must be issued today (Monday),” the Speaker told Congress officials. “Past delays in appointing a committee chair have even prevented the State Affairs Committee from convening its meetings, and such precedents must not be repeated.”

All eyes are now on Congress’s Monday executive meeting, where the party is expected to finalize its nominee.

Only after this decision will the Speaker proceed with the electoral process to appoint the committee chair.