Kathmandu, 22 March: The Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), which has secured a nearly two-thirds majority (winning 182 seats) in the House of Representatives, is engaged in internal preparations to form the government. With the RSP set to form a single-party government under its leadership after obtaining a clear majority in the House of Representatives, the party’s top leaders are busy with internal discussions and preparations.
According to RSP spokesperson Manish Jha, along with the newly elected members of parliament taking their oath at the Parliament Building on Chaitra 12, the party will finalize amendments to the current parliamentary party statute, select the parliamentary party leader, and subsequently administer the oath of office to the Prime Minister. While discussing the preparations for selecting the parliamentary party leader and forming the government with Gorkhapatra Daily, Spokesperson Jha stated, “Discussions and consultations are ongoing at the party’s top leadership level to move forward with the process of first administering the oath to the newly elected members of parliament, then selecting the parliamentary party leader, and then holding the Prime Minister’s swearing-in ceremony.” There had been an agreement between the RSP and former Kathmandu Metropolitan City Mayor Balendra Shah that Ravi Lamichhane would be the party’s president and Shah would be the senior leader.
In the seven-point agreement between the two sides, the party had entered the elections with the understanding that senior leader Shah would become Prime Minister. Spokesperson Jha also informed that the RSP, which received an extraordinary public mandate in the election, is amending the party’s statute to make it suitable for selecting senior leader Balendra Shah as the parliamentary party leader, and preparations are underway to have this approved by the upcoming central committee meeting.
Article 66 of the RSP’s Statute, 2079 BS, stipulates that elected general members of the federal parliament are to be the members, and Article 66 (8) provides for the selection of the parliamentary party leader by the party’s general members. The statute also mentions that for the selection of the House of Representatives parliamentary party leader, an election must be held among the candidates elected through the proportional and direct categories in the federal election on behalf of the party.
As the party has not yet held a general convention since its formation, the authority to amend the statute lies with the central committee. Accordingly, party president Ravi Lamichhane, senior leader Balendra Shah, vice-presidents DP Aryal and Swarnim Wagle are engaged in internal homework regarding amending the statute to select senior leader Balendra Shah as the parliamentary party leader and forming the government accordingly.
The Election Commission distributed certificates on Thursday to the members of the House of Representatives elected through the proportional representation system. Last Thursday, the Commission submitted the report on the House of Representatives election to President Ramchandra Paudel.
The Federal Parliament Secretariat has indicated that consultations have been held with representatives of the RSP, Nepali Congress, CPN (UML), CPN, Janamat Party, and Rastriya Prajatantra Party, and the oath-taking ceremony will be held on Chaitra 12 at the under-construction Parliament Building in Singha Durbar. Preparations are underway for the Prime Minister’s oath and the formation of the Council of Ministers on Chaitra 13, the day after the MPs take their oath.
The RSP is working internally to complete all its processes and send a proposal to the Office of the President to make arrangements for the swearing-in of Prime Minister Balendra Shah. According to RSP sources, Balendra Shah is preparing to form a 15 to 18-member Council of Ministers, and a preliminary list of who will be given responsibility for which ministry has also been prepared.
