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It has already been two years that the post of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representative has been lying vacant.

In the meantime, political appointments were made to constitutional agencies and many other positions.

But, no one has given attention to fill the vacant post of Deputy Speaker in the Parliament.

There is a provision that the woman should be appointed as the Deputy Speaker as there is already a male speaker.

Lawmakers said that the parties have not given much attention to appoint the Deputy  Speaker may be because the woman should be appointed to the post.

The UML and CPN (Maoist Centre) had divided the post of Speaker and Deputy Speaker after the elections of 2017.

In 2018, CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre) were unified, eight months after the two ruling parties made an initial agreement on party unity.

Krishna Bahadur Mahara of CPN (Maoist Centre) and Shiva Maya Tumbahamphe were appointed as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively.

Later, a staffer of the Parliament accused Mahara of abusing her. Then he resigned from the post.

Many leaders within the party claimed for the post of speaker. But, the party appointed Agni Prasad Sapkota as the speaker.

Tumbahamphe tendered her resignation on January 20, 2020.

Nepali Congress staged protests saying that the Speaker and Deputy Speaker were appointed from the same party. Now, the Nepali Congress is leading the government and it has not given much attention to appoint the Deputy Speaker.

In recent times, the five-party coalition has divided the post of Deputy Speaker among them. The post of Deputy Speaker was given to the Janata Samajbadi Party.

Ruling coalition leaders have said that the government could not appoint the deputy speaker as the main oppostion has been obstructing the Parliament demanding that the Speaker take action against the 14 lawmakers expelled by the party.

CPN (Maoist Centre) Chief Whip Dev Gurung said that the government has not appointed the Deputy speaker yet due to the House obstruction.

Nepal Congress leader Pushpa Bhusal said that the Deputy Speaker should be appointed at the earliest to protect the rights of the women envisioned by the constitution.

The main opposition CPN-UML Chief Whip Bishal Bhattarai said that it was unfortunate the post of Deputy Speaker remained vacant for a long time.

CPN (Maoist Centre) has formed a task force to give suggestions on the Millennium Challenge Corporation Nepal Compact, an American grant worth $500 million.

Party leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara said that the party decided to form the task force after the issue of MCC was raised in the meeting of the former Standing Committee members held on Saturday.

“We have formed a taskforce to give suggestions on the MCC. We will move ahead as per the suggestions of the taskforce,” he said.

Meanwhile, a meeting held at the party office in Paris Danda on Saturday discussed holding all three tiers of elections in one go, Mahara said.

The meeting has decided to give authority to party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal to mobilize the cadres and leaders until the cases of Covid-19 declines.

The meeting has also decided to give the responsibility to Chairman Dahal to complete the organizational works.

Nepali Congress General Secretary Bishwo Prakash Sharma has suggested Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba to relieve Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transport Renu Yadav of her position.

He said that Minister Yadav should be removed from her post for making the remarks to incite social violence.

Minister Yadav was dragged into controversy after she threatened to Kill Chairman of Janamat Party CK Raut during a programme organized at a public programme in Rautahat on Wednesday.

Sharma also suggested Minister Yadav to resign from her post.

Minister Yadav had warned of carrying out another Gaur massacre by killing CK Raut.

As many 27 cadres of the then CPN-Maoist were murdered at a Gaur-based rice mill on March 21, 2007. Madhesi Janadhikari Forum, the then party of Upendra Yadav, incumbent Chairman of Janata Samajbadi Party had carried out the massacre.

Ruling coalition has agreed to fix the date of local level elections.

A meeting of the high-level political coordination committee held on Friday decided to consult with the legal experts for the same, a leader, who attended the meeting said.

Now, the debate on elections have come to an end.

Earlier, a dispute had ensued in the ruling alliance after CPN (Maoist Centre) Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal proposed for early elections.

Addressing the nation on Friday, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had also committed to hold the three tiers of elections.

The main opposition CPN-UML has also been piling the government to fix the date of local elections.