Kathmandu – CPN-UML MP Devraj Ghimire has been elected as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. He was elected by the majority of the members of the House of Representatives in the election held today.
He got 167 votes. There were 100 votes against. Out of 275 members of the House of Representatives, 268 participated in the voting. One MP abstained from voting.
UML’s Subash Nembang proposed Ghimire’s candidacy while Rastriya Prajatantra Party Chairman Rajendra Lingden, Rastriya Swatantra Party Chairman Rabi Lamichhane and CPN (Maoist Center)’s Chief Whip Hitraj Pandey seconded the proposal.
Ghimire was elected as a member of the House of Representatives from Jhapa-2. He defeated independent candidate Swagat Nepal by a margin of 2, 297 votes.
Born in Taplejung in 2013 BS, Ghimire began his political career as a student leader and was a National Assembly member from 1999 to 2003 BS. The 66-year-old leader is now the UML standing committee member and the party in-charge for Province 1.
The Constitution requires the lower house to elect the Speaker within 15 days of the commencement of the first meeting and either Speaker or Deputy Speaker shall be a woman and belong to different parties.
Meanwhile, the election for the Deputy Speaker has been scheduled for January 21.