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In a single day, the Parliament Secretariat spends more than 1m in the various sections. It includes the rent of Parliament buildings, allowances, transport fees and other expenditures.  But, both the House of Representative and National Assembly have made very little or little progress in the law-making.The new parliament elected from Nov 9 elections has not passed even a single bill. On several occasions, lawmakers go to Parliament only to register their attendance. The list of abuse by lawmakers goes on. 

The daily rent for the Parliament building is Rs 416,000, while Rs 550,000 is allocated for allowances and transport fares of lawmakers, and another Rs 100,000 is earmarked for miscellaneous expenses. This translates to a total expenditure of Rs 20m on parliamentary meetings. Lawmakers have expressed dissatisfaction over the government's failure to provide adequate business to the parliament.

The parliament has been devoid of any meaningful business as the government and parties were preoccupied with the formation of the government and the elections of the President and Vice-president. In the four months since the election, the parliament has managed to draft House of Representatives Regulations.

Additionally, several bills including the Prevention of Money Laundering and Promotion of Business Environment Bill, Enforced Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Act (Amendment) Bill, Food Hygiene and Quality Bill, and Constitutional Council (Functions, Duties, Powers and Procedures) Act Amendment Bill have been tabled for discussion in parliament. The government aims to expedite the Enforced Disappearances Enquiry, Truth and Reconciliation Act (Amendment) Bill through a fast track process.

However, the main opposition, CPN-UML, has been insisting that the discussion on the Bill should take place in parliament. The government was also expected to table the Nepal Citizenship Act Amendment Bill which was previously refused authentication by the former President Bidya Devi Bhandari. The government has not yet tabled the bill.

Furthermore, the government has not tabled 28 bills, which become inactive automatically with the end of the previous parliament’s term, in parliament.

The Federal Parliament Secretariat has been providing Rs 18,000 as house rent allowance to members of both houses who do not have a residence in Kathmandu Valley. However, lawmakers, who have their own house in the Valley, have been collecting Rs 9,000 as house maintenance allowance every month. According to the secretariat, out of 124 lawmakers, who have residences in the valley, 123 are collecting house rent allowance from the secretariat every month. Sunil Sharma of the Nepali Congress is the only lawmaker who has refused this allowance. Staffers of the secretariat showed Sharma wrote to the secretariat stating that he doesn’t need a house maintenance allowance.

Several prominent lawmakers, including NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN-UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli, CPN (Unified Socialist) Chairman Madhav Kumar Nepal, Rastriya Swatantra Party Vice-president Dol Prasad Aryal, and Rastriya Prajatantra Party Vice-president Bikram Pandey, among others, have been availing themselves of the house repair allowance.

The Rastriya Swatantra Party has suspended lawmaker Dhaka Kumar Shrestha after his audio of asking for Rs 20 million bribe with medical entrepreneur Durga Prasain was leaked. An office bearers’ meeting of the party held on Sunday decided to suspend lawmaker Shrestha. RSP Chief Whip Santosh Pariyar said that Shrestha has been suspended for a week. “This is a sensitive issue. He has been suspended for a week. He will be asked to furnish clarification,” he said. In the audiotape, lawmaker Shrestha was heard asking Rs 20 million with Prasain saying that he had to pay the money to the party to become health minister.    

The Rastriya Swatantra Party is to take action against lawmaker Dhaka Kumar Shrestha. RSP Vice-President Dol Prasad Aryal said that the party is preparing to expel lawmaker Shrestha after the audio of him asking for kickback with medical entrepreneur Durga Prasain was leaked. “We have got information about the matter. We will take necessary action after carrying out an investigation,” he said. In the audiotape, lawmaker Shrestha was heard asking the bribe with Prasain saying that he had to pay Rs 20 million to the party to become health minister.  

Twenty-nine polling stations, out of 43, in the Chitwan electoral constituency have been assessed as 'highly sensitive' in view of the upcoming House of Representatives (HoR) by-election. The by-polls are being held in three constituencies including Bara-2 and Tanahun-1 on April 23. According to Chitwan Chief District Officer Surendra Poudel, polling stations here have been categorized as normal, sensitive and highly sensitive. Despite the categorization, all polling stations are equally significant and the district administration is preparing to beef up security targeting them. The by-polls are obviously the concerns of political parties, civil society, people and the security mechanism, it is said. The decision about the mobilization of Nepali Army during the election will be taken by the government and at the moment, the Chitwan District Administration is busy working on the election security plan with the mobilizations of Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and the National Investigation Department. The security arrangements will be made in such a way so that each citizen and a voter could feel safe during the election time. Security forces shall reach the entire polling stations by April 20. There are 124,695 voters in the Chitwan-2 for the April 23 by-elections and the voting will take place in 138 polling centers under 43 polling stations. By-election is required here after the Supreme Court decided to annul the HoR membership of Rabi Lamichhane, the President of Rastriya Swatantra Party who was elected here this constituency in the November-20 election, over his citizenship issue. A total of 22 candidates including Jeet Narayan Shrestha of Nepali Congress (ruling alliance), CPN-UML's Ram Prasad Neupane and RSP Chair Lamichhane will be competing for the HoR seat from here.