It has already been two years that the post of Deputy Speaker of the House of Representative has been lying vacant.
In the meantime, political appointments were made to constitutional agencies and many other positions.
But, no one has given attention to fill the vacant post of Deputy Speaker in the Parliament.
There is a provision that the woman should be appointed as the Deputy Speaker as there is already a male speaker.
Lawmakers said that the parties have not given much attention to appoint the Deputy Speaker may be because the woman should be appointed to the post.
The UML and CPN (Maoist Centre) had divided the post of Speaker and Deputy Speaker after the elections of 2017.
In 2018, CPN-UML and CPN (Maoist Centre) were unified, eight months after the two ruling parties made an initial agreement on party unity.
Krishna Bahadur Mahara of CPN (Maoist Centre) and Shiva Maya Tumbahamphe were appointed as the Speaker and Deputy Speaker respectively.
Later, a staffer of the Parliament accused Mahara of abusing her. Then he resigned from the post.
Many leaders within the party claimed for the post of speaker. But, the party appointed Agni Prasad Sapkota as the speaker.
Tumbahamphe tendered her resignation on January 20, 2020.
Nepali Congress staged protests saying that the Speaker and Deputy Speaker were appointed from the same party. Now, the Nepali Congress is leading the government and it has not given much attention to appoint the Deputy Speaker.
In recent times, the five-party coalition has divided the post of Deputy Speaker among them. The post of Deputy Speaker was given to the Janata Samajbadi Party.
Ruling coalition leaders have said that the government could not appoint the deputy speaker as the main oppostion has been obstructing the Parliament demanding that the Speaker take action against the 14 lawmakers expelled by the party.
CPN (Maoist Centre) Chief Whip Dev Gurung said that the government has not appointed the Deputy speaker yet due to the House obstruction.
Nepal Congress leader Pushpa Bhusal said that the Deputy Speaker should be appointed at the earliest to protect the rights of the women envisioned by the constitution.
The main opposition CPN-UML Chief Whip Bishal Bhattarai said that it was unfortunate the post of Deputy Speaker remained vacant for a long time.
