Only one candidacy has been filed for the vacant position of chairperson of the House of Representatives' State Affairs and Good Governance Committee.
The Federal Parliament Secretariat has said that only Nepali Congress lawmaker Ishwari Devi Neupane has filed candidacy for the position. It has already published the list of nomination registrations for the chairperson’s position.
According to Harka Raj Rai, secretary of the House of Representatives, Neupane is the sole candidate for the chairperson of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee.
Neupane’s candidacy was proposed by NC lawmaker Ramhari Khatiwada, a member of the State Affairs Committee, and supported by CPN-UML lawmaker Krishna Gopal Shrestha.
The State Affairs Committee also has lawmakers from the CPN (Maoist Center), Rastriya Swatantra Party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party, CPN (Unified Socialist), Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, Janata Samajwadi Party Nepal, Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP), Janamat Party, and Rastriya Janamorcha. However, none of these parties filed candidacies.
Political parties had previously agreed to divide leadership positions of parliamentary committees among themselves.
Based on the agreement, lawmakers from the NC, UML, Maoist Center, RPP, Unified Socialist, JSP, and Janamat were elected unopposed as chairs of parliamentary committees.
At that time, the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee was allocated to the NC, which is why other parties did not field candidates this time.
Previously, NC lawmaker Ramhari Khatiwada was the chairman of the State Affairs Committee. He resigned on August 12, after a parliamentary investigation committee held him morally accountable for errors related to the cooling-off period provision in the Federal Civil Service Bill.
The NC had delayed selecting a candidate for the chairperson of State Affairs Committee. After Speaker Devraj Ghimire released the election schedule for the committee chairperson, the NC decided to nominate Neupane as its candidate on the final day of nomination registration.
The State Affairs and Good Governance Committee includes NC lawmakers Ambika Basnet, Gagan Thapa, Dilendra Prasad Badu, Bishwa Prakash Sharma, Sarita Prasai, Hridayaram Thani, Purna Bahadur Khadka, Ishwari Devi Neupane, and Ramhari Khatiwada as members.
Among them, NC Vice-president Khadka, General Secretaries Thapa and Sharma, and lawmaker Thani were not interested in contesting for the committee chairmanship, but lawmakers Basnet, Badu, Prasai, and Khatiwada were aspirants for the position.
However, NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba urged Neupane, who was already the chairperson of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee, to resign from that post and file nomination for the chairperson of State Affairs and Good Governance Committee. Deuba finalized Neupane’s candidacy during a meeting of NC’s top leaders held on Tuesday morning at his residence in Budhanilkantha. Neupane is considered close to Deuba.
Neupane had previously contested the election for House of Representatives speaker but lost to Devraj Ghimire of the UML. Deuba then made her the chairperson of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee. Neupane was elected unopposed as the chairperson of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee on August 15, 2024.
After serving in that role for a year, she resigned on Tuesday and was elected unopposed as the chairperson of the State Affairs and Good Governance Committee on the same day.
The committee’s meeting scheduled for Wednesday will formally announce her election as chairperson.
