Winter session of Parliament ended on Wednesday as all lawmakers from the main opposition Nepali Congress remained absent due to the party’s upcoming national general convention on March 3-6. Speaker Onsari Gharti made the announcement during her address to the House meeting on Wednesday.

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari under the recommendation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli concluded the first session of the Legislature-Parliament since being transformed from the Constituent Assembly after the promulgation of the Constitution on September 20 last year. The winter session had commenced on October 2. With the session coming to an end, the government’s commitment give parliamentary recognition to the Political Mechanism to review the provincial boundaries is likely to be affected.

The first session of Parliament post September 20, 2015 lasted for 139 days, with 44 meetings being held over 41 working days. Parliament spent just 37 hours and 15 minutes during the session electing head of the state and government, among other things. During the first session, Parliament elected President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Speaker and Deputy Speaker as per the provision of the provision of Constitution of Nepal. The other significant work included the first amendment to the constitution aimed at addressing various demands of the Madhesi parties, including proportional representation in state machineries and delineation of state boundaries based on population.

Meanwhile, the Parliament meeting on Wednesday extended the deadline of Regulation Drafting Committee for Parliament led by Nepali Congress lawmaker Radheshyam Adhikari. The committee has not been able to draft the regulations owing to the dispute between the NC and the ruling CPN-UML. This is fourth time the committee has extended the deadline after failing to resolve the dispute mainly over the size of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee. The opposition, including Nepali Congress and other fringe parties, wants continuation of the 73-member hearing committee, while the UML-led ruling alliance is in favour of reducing its size to 15 as provisioned in the new constitution.