A meeting of ruling Nepal Communist Party has late afternoon started at Prime Minister official residence in Baluwatar in a bid to choose a candidate for the vacant position of Speaker of the House of Representative.

The sessions of the HoR on December 27, 2019 and January 1 and 12, 2020 were postponed following failure to reach a political consensus to pick a new Speaker and set election schedule for the post of Speaker. The last HoR meeting was deferred until January 20.

Earlier, the meeting of the NCP Secretariat, Prime Minister and NCP Chair KP Sharma Oli and another NCP Chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ held a discussion on the issue.

The NCP Secretariat meeting earlier had asked Deputy Speaker Dr Shiva Maya Tumbahangphe to step down.

The then HoR Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara resigned on October 2, 2019 after he faced charges of sexually harassing a fellow woman. Mahara is in police custody on the same charges.