All political party leaders have agreed to hold the election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of House of Representatives (HoR) and chair and deputy chair of National Assembly prior to the voting for presidential polls.

The meeting of the representatives of the five national parties held at the behest of Parliament Secretariat has decided to draw voting schedule before the first meeting of the federal parliament.

The schedule to be prepared by the Secretariat will be further discussed at the all-party meeting to be held on March 4. It will have to be fixed by the meetings of HoR and the NA.

CPN-UML leader Bhanu Bhakta Dhakal who was in the meeting said the all-party meeting on March 4 will also discuss the working procedure of both the Houses.

“The HoR and the NA will get Speaker and Deputy and chair and vice chair respectively before March 13,” he said. The election of President has been set for March 13.

The Article 91 of the Constitution of Nepal envisions holding elections for the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Chair and Vice chair within 15 days since the first meeting of the federal parliament.

The UML and CPN (Maoist Centre) have agreed to share four positions among them. The UML will take chair of the NA and deputy speaker while the Maoist Centre will get speaker of the HoR and vice-chair of the NA.

President Bidhya Devi Bhandari under the recommendation of the government has fixed the meeting of federal parliament for March 5. The first meeting of the HoR will be held at 4 pm on the day while the NA will commence at 5pm.

Prior to that the lawmakers from both the Houses will take the oath of office and secrecy in the afternoon on March 4. Rastriya Janata Party Nepal lawmaker Mahendra Raya Yadav will administer the oath to 274 lawmakers from the HoR and Nepali Congress lawmaker Tara Devi Bhatta will administer oath to the NA members. In the record of Election Commission, Yadav is 80 years old and Bhatta 69. They will lead their Houses as the eldest members until the election of speaker of the HoR and chair of the NA.