Kathmandu January 12.

A meeting of the House of Representatives (HoR) re-scheduled for today has been put off by pasting a notice. Deputy Speaker Dr Shibamaya Tumbahamphe was supposed to chair the today’s session which has been adjourned till 1:00 am of January 20, citing a special reason. It was postponed as per the decision of the Deputy Speaker, said Federal Parliament’s Spokesperson Dr Rojnath Pandey. The previous two Lower House sessions scheduled to be held on December 27 and January 1 under the fifth Federal Parliament session which had commenced on December 20 were adjourned in the absence of a political understanding in regard with the matters of election schedule of the Speaker which is presently vacant and the selection of candidate(s). It may be noted that the then Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara had stepped down from the post on October 2 as per the party (Nepal Communist Party)’s decision after he was alleged of sexual harassment against a woman employee at the Federal Parliament. The post has been lying vacant since then. Mahara presently remains in police custody for further investigation into the case. The meeting of the HoR has been greatly influenced by the ongoing discussion in the ruling party NCP, surrounding the appointment of the Speaker. The NCP leadership has already placed a request to Deputy Speaker Tumbahamphe to consider tendering resignation to make headway for new election for the appointment for Speaker and Deputy Speaker since the constitution provisions that the Speaker and Deputy Speaker be elected from the different political parties. Deputy Speaker Tumbahamphe has been holding consultations with the NCP Chairmen KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ too. Deputy Speaker Tumbahamphe , on the other hand, has been demanding that she be made a contender for the vacant post of the Speaker.