Nominations for the post of deputy speaker were filed on Thursday.
Two parties – Shram Sanskriti Party and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) – have fielded their candidates for the position.
Lawmaker Ruby Kumari Thakur is the candidate from the Shram Sanskriti Party, while lawmaker Saraswati Lama represents the RPP.
The ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) has decided to support the Shram Sanskriti Party's candidate.
Thakur’s candidacy was filed with Shram Sanskriti Party lawmaker Aren Rai as the proposer and RSP lawmaker Ashok Kumar Chaudhary as the seconder.
In contrast, Lama’s proposer and seconder are both from the RPP itself.
Earlier on Thursday, RPP parliamentary party leader Gyanendra Shahi told journalists that the RSP had pledged support to the RPP candidate.
“RSP President Rabi Lamichhane has said, ‘Let the RPP file candidacy for the post of deputy speaker, we will support,’” Shahi said at the time.
Based on that statement, reports circulated that the RSP would back the RPP for deputy speaker.
Both the Shram Sanskriti Party and the RPP are opposition parties in the House of Representatives. The Shram Sanskriti Party has 7 seats, while the RPP has 5.
RSP Vice-president Dol Prasad Aryal was elected speaker unopposed on April 5.
Since the speaker and deputy speaker cannot belong to the same party, the RSP has decided to support the Shram Sanskriti Party candidate for deputy speaker.
RSP spokesperson Manish Jha confirmed the decision to support the Shram Sanskriti Party for the post.
