The election for Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Province 4 has been scheduled for February 15.

The first Provincial Assembly meeting of Province held at the seminar hall of Town Development Training Centre in Nadipur, Pokhara, on Monday afternoon made the decision to this effect.

During the meeting, lawmakers said that they would make the province 4 a ‘model state’ and take it towards the path of prosperity.

As the province is close to China and India, the lawmakers said that they would leave no stone unturned to develop the province.

The lawmakers have put road linking China and India, Kyirong-Kathmandu-Pokhara-Lumbini Railway project in the priority.

Prithvi Subba Gurung, Kiran Gurung and Srijana Sharma of CPN-UML, Krishna Chandra Nepali, Dobate Bishwokarma and Lalitkala Gurung of Nepali Congress, Hari Bahadur Chuman, Netra Nath Adhikari and Gayatri Gurung of CPN (Maoist Centre), Krishna Thapa of Rastriya Janamorcha and Hari Sharan Acharya of Naya Shakti Party Nepal had put forth their views in the meeting.

There are 11 districts—Gorkha, Lamjung, Kaski, Tanahun, Syangja, Nawalparasi, Mustang, Myagdi, Baglung, Parbat and Mananag—in the province.

The meeting has unanimously endorsed the interim work procedure of the province.

The meeting was presided over by senior-most member of the Province Janak Lal Shrestha.

There are 60 Provincial Assembly members in the province including 27 from CPN-UML, 15 from Nepali Congress, 12 from CPN (Maoist Center), three from Rastriya Janamorcha, two from Naya Shakti Party Nepal and one from independent.

Of them, Rajeev Gurung aka Deepak Manange, who was elected as an independent candidate from Manang-1 (B), has not yet taken the oath of office and secrecy as he is on the run in attempted murder conviction.