AMN/ WEB DESK
Nepal celebrates its 65th Parliament Day on 1st July 2023, Saturday commemorating the first sitting of the parliament in Nepal. In an event organised in the New Baneshwor-based Parliament Building, the Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) will feature in the event as a chief guest.
Nepal’s first parliamentary meeting was held on the same day today in 2016 BS (1959 AD), some 65 years ago with 109 members. In the then parliamentary election, Nepali Congress emerged as the largest party with a two-thirds majority winning 74 parliamentary seats.
Likewise, Nepal Rastrabadi Gorkha Parishad secured 19 seats, Samyukta Prajatantrik Party Nepal five, Nepal Communist Party four, Nepal Praja Parishad won two seats, Nepal Praja Parishad won one and independent candidates won four seats. The parliamentary system was throttled in 1960 AD, with the then King Mahendra taking over the first-elected government and dissolving the parliamentary system, the country ushered into a partyless Panchayat system.
Democracy was reinstated in 1989 AD on the backing of the People’s Movement. The parliamentary revival was made in the name of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly. The Interim Constitution of Nepal, established in 2006 named the parliament as Legislature-Parliament which transformed into the bicameral ‘federal parliament’ with the HoR and National Assembly. Under the federal parliament, the HoR comprises 275 members from first-past-the-post electoral and proportional representation categories while the National Assembly comprises 59 members, including those elected and nominated by the President.