The House of Representatives (HoR) which witnessed several ups and downs along with dissolution twice, completed its five-year-long tenure today.

The HoR was dissolved in December 2020 and in May 2021 but was reinstated both times from the Supreme Court's verdict.

In the last meeting of this HoR on Saturday, HoR Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota said that history will obviously recall the efforts taken for the complete tenure of the HoR. "Dissolution of the HoR for two times and its restoration is perhaps the first of its incident in the world's parliamentary history. I am confident that this HoR that existed for its full term will be an exemplary model for the future," Speaker Sapkota added.

The historic unity among the parties in the HoR of the Federal Parliament in regard to issuing the political map of Nepal including Limiyadhura, Lipulek, and Kalapani would be remembered once and always.

Participation and addresses by Nepal's parliamentarians in different international forums on behalf of Nepal have helped increase the visibility of the HoR as well as the visits that happened from different countries and meetings and interaction events have helped in the exchanges of good parliamentary practices.

Recently, the visit from the Standing Committee Chairman of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, Li Zhanshu, also marked a milestone for the inter-parliamentary cooperation between Nepal's HoR and China's NPC.

Likewise, the roles played by parliamentary committees during this tenure are also remarkable, for which, Speaker Sapkota expressed his gratitude to the roles of the lawmakers for their presence, active participation and consultations.

The HoR has also reaffirmed that higher level of understanding and cooperation of the political parties is imperative for the success of the parliament.

On the occasion, Speaker Sapkota expressed the hope that the HoR members will make contributions from their side for the successful completion of the HoR election slated for November 20.

Meanwhile, the 11th session of the HoR that continued for 124 days passed 16 bills altogether from among 42 bills received from previous sessions of the HoR.

According to the Federal Parliament Secretariat, seven bills are under consideration in different parliamentary committees, and seven others are tabled in the meeting. (RSS)

President Bidya Devi Bhandari prorogued the session of both the Houses of the Federal Parliament effective from Saturday mid-night.

She ended the session on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers. Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota informed the House of Representatives about the prorogation of the session while reading out the letter received from the President on Saturday.

With the prorogation of the ongoing session, the five-year term of the first House of Representatives formed as according to the new constitution has ended. New elections to the federal parliament and the provincial assemblies have been scheduled for November 20.

On the last day of the session, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba, main opposition party leader KP Oli Sharma and the parliamentary party leaders of other parties addressed the House. They admitted that the current parliament could not be made effective for various reasons.

Addressing the last meeting of the House today, Prime Minister Deuba said that the parliament could remain alive only because of the verdict of the Supreme Court.

PM Deuba said that the Citizenship Bill would give justice to the citizens who were unable to have their identity for a long time. The Prime Minister also said that the government was ready to provide all kinds of support to the Election Commission to conduct the elections in a free and fair manner.

Similarly, the parliamentary party leader main opposition and UML chair Oli clarified that going for a fresh mandate was not a regression. Defending his move of the House dissolution, Oli said that election is a fundamental base of democracy.

“Due to political interest, a course was taken. An alliance was formed and brought the government out of perpetuity by changing the law. Going to elections cannot be called regression. If there is no election as required and in time, there will be regression,” he said.

Likewise, CPN-Maoist Centre chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ said that though the country had expected an easy path for development and prosperity after the promulgation of the constitution, it could not happen. Expressing his unhappiness over the House dissolution, Prachanda said that former Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s move was not for holding elections. “His announcement and the current election should not be judged as same.”

Former Prime Minister and CPN-Unified Socialist leader Jhala Nath Khanal said that even though the people expected transformation in the country after the promulgation of the constitution, it did not happen.

Janata Samajwadi Party-Nepal chairman Upendra Yadav claimed that the dissolution of the Parliament was unconstitutional. He said that even though the constitution has envisioned a federal structure, it could not abandon the unitary thinking. Yadav said that the House of Representatives could not pass even important bills required for the implementation of federalism.

Rajendra Mahato, the leader of the Loktantrik Samajwadi Party, claimed that even after the promulgation of the constitution, the people could not feel good governance. Mahato said that there has been no improvement in the rights and identity of the people.

Similarly, former Prime Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai said that leaders should listen to the opinions of the public rather than making their own assessment. Bhattarai said that the new generation people were posing a big challenge to the traditional parties.

In the meeting, the details of the work performed in the current session were also presented. Out of 16 bills registered in the current session, 14 have been passed by both the Houses. Likewise,16 bills of 42 under consideration in the previous session got endorsed and 16 Bills remained only registered. Bills under consideration will now be inactive.