Himal Press 
Koshi Province Assembly (File Photo)
ITAHARI: Preparations have begun to elect chairpersons of parliamentary committees in Koshi Province, 21 months after the provincial assembly election.
A meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the provincial assembly has set the election date for September 13.
Speaker of the Provincial Assembly, Ambar Bahadur Bista, announced that the committee chairpersons would be selected on September 13.
Although the parliamentary committees were formed on November 6 last year, the election of chairpersons was pending.
The Koshi Province Assembly has seven committees: Justice, Administration and Legislation; Good Governance and Planning; Finance; Public Accounts; Social Development; Industry, Tourism, and Environment; and Natural Resources and Infrastructure.
Sources say the Chief Minister plans to allocate three committees to CPN-UML, two to Nepali Congress, and one each to CPN (Maoist Center) and Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP). However, both NC and Maoist Center are staking claims for two committee chairs.
Chief Minister Hikmat Karki has said that the committee chairpersons would be selected on a consensus basis. He assured that discussions with parties would continue until nominations are filed.
Speaking to journalists after the Business Advisory Committee meeting, Karki said the provincial assembly sessions would be adjourned before Dashain festival after selecting chairpersons and reconvene for the winter session.
CPN-UML’s Chief Whip in the Koshi Provincial Assembly, Revati Ram Bhandari, said the government plans to allocate three committee chairs to UML, two to Nepali Congress, and one each to Maoist Center and RPP. “We have not reached a conclusion yet, discussions are ongoing,” he added.
The main opposition, Maoist Center, is almost certain to get the Public Accounts Committee.
Himal Karki, deputy leader of the NC Parliamentary Party in the provincial assembly, said committee chairs should be selected on a consensus basis.
UML is the largest party in the provincial assembly with 93 members. NC has 29, Maoist Center has 12, RPP has six, CPN (Unified Socialist) has four, and Janata Samajbadi Party has one member in the provincial assembly.
