Ram Bahadur Thapa has become the parliamentary party leader of the CPN-UML.
He entered the House of Representatives as a UML lawmaker under the proportional representation (PR) category.
Following a parliamentary party meeting held in Chyasal on Wednesday, the election process was initiated to select the parliamentary party leader.
According to Niraj Acharya, chief of the party’s election department, although lawmakers Thapa and Suhang Nembang had both taken candidacy forms, only Thapa submitted his.
According to Acharya, the deadline for submitting forms was 4 p.m.
"During that period, only one person submitted the form. We will soon announce that Badal [Thapa] has been elected unopposed as parliamentary party leader," he said.
In Wednesday’s meeting, Suhang Nembang had stressed the need to promote the youth and expressed his desire to lead the parliamentary party.
According to a party leader, Suhang had taken the nomination form because lawmakers Rajendra Rai from Dhankuta and Arjun Karki from Sankhuwasabha had promised to be his proposer and seconder.
However, at the time of form submission, General Secretary Shankar Pokharel reportedly took lawmakers Rai and Karki away for "discussions." Left without a proposer and seconder, Suhang was unable to register his candidacy.
The UML has 25 lawmakers in the House of Representatives.
