Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Federal Parliament Secretariat has launched the trial operation of a new digital parliament platform aimed at digitizing parliamentary activities, improving transparency and streamlining legislative procedures.
The platform, available at digital.parliament.gov.np, was jointly inaugurated by Speaker of the House of Representatives Dol Prasad Aryal and National Assembly Chairperson Narayan Prasad Dahal on Wednesday.
According to the secretariat, the platform integrates administrative, managerial and legislative functions into a single system, replacing scattered digital systems and creating a centralized mechanism for managing parliamentary affairs. It will maintain digital profiles of lawmakers, including information related to their political parties, constituencies and parliamentary committees. It also integrates biometric and Near Field Communication (NFC) verification systems.
The platform will introduce electronic attendance tracking for meetings of both houses of Parliament and their committees and automatically record lawmakers’ attendance and absences and allow leave applications to be submitted and managed digitally.
The system also provides an e-legislation tracking facility for registering government and non-government bills online. Each bill will be assigned a unique tracking ID through which its progress can be monitored from introduction to final passage.
Another feature is the digital archiving of lawmakers’ speeches and parliamentary proceedings. Speeches will be recorded and indexed, with transcripts linked to video timestamps, parliamentary topics and relevant bills. The records can be searched and preserved digitally over the long term, according to the secretariat.
The platform also includes a public access portal through which people can access legislative agendas, proceedings of the houses, committee reports and other public parliamentary documents.
A dedicated mobile application for Android and iOS devices has also been developed for lawmakers. Through the application, lawmakers can view parliamentary schedules, access documents, submit leave applications and manage their personal records.
Joint Secretary and spokesperson of the Federal Parliament Secretariat Ekram Giri said the platform is currently in its testing phase. Lawmakers, media personnel and other stakeholders have been invited to provide feedback and suggestions to improve the system.
