20 Upper House members retiring, election to be held in January

KATHMANDU: Twenty members of the National Assembly, the Upper House of the Federal Parliament, including Chair Ganesh Prasad Timilsina are retiring on March 4, 2024.

The National Assembly has 59 members and the six-year term of one-third of them is ending on March 4. They belong to the group of members whose term was determined through a draw for the first time after the formation of the Assembly in 2074 BS.

The election to elect new members will be held in January.

Also called the Elders’ House, the National Assembly plays an important role in enriching the bills and legislations, holding rich discussions and giving its feedback, suggestion and advice on the decisions of the House of Representatives, the Lower House of parliament. The Assembly which is alleged of becoming only the shadow of the Lower House has, however, sometimes sent messages to the HoR calling for review on some important bills.

Those members whose term is terminating on coming March 4 include Anita Devkota, Jitendra Narayan Dev, Prakash Pantha and Ramesh Jung Rayamajhi of the Nepali Congress, Indu Kadariya, Deepa Gurung, Dil Kumari Rawal, Kumar Dasaundi, Narapati Luwar, Bhairab Sundar Shrestha and Ram Chandra Rai of the CPN (UML) and Bina Pokharel, Mahesh Kumar Mahara and Hariram Chaudhary of the CPN (Maoist Centre), Pramila Kumari of the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP), Nanda Chapain and Singa Bahadur Bishwakarma of the CPN (Unified Socialist), Dr Khim Lal Devkota (Independent) and Dr Bimala Paudyal who was nominated by the President.

Among them, Dasaundi and Dr Devkota had been elected from the by-election held on February 8, 2023 for the remaining term after the resignation of Ram Bahadur Thapa and Khimlal Bhattarai.

The term of all the National Assembly members, whose tenure was determined for two, four and six years through lottery system for the first time after the formation of the Assembly in 2074 BS, is expiring on March 4, 2024. Among them, eight belong to the CPN-UML, four to Nepali Congress, three to Maoist Center, two to Unified Socialist and one to JSP while one each is an independent and nominated.