The ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has decided to make party’s standing committee member Agni Prasad Sapkota as the candidate of Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR).

A meeting of the NCP Secretariat held this evening took the decision in this regard, according to party General Secretary, Bishnu Prasad Poudel.

The post of Speaker has remained vacant for the past four months after the then Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara tendered his resignation from the post after he faced charges of sexual harassing a female employee at the Parliament Secretariat.

HoR meetings are being postponed time and again in lack of Speaker. After today’s decision, the HoR would get the new Speaker.

The Secretariat meeting decided to make Sapkota as the candidate for the Speaker post based on the consensus between party chair duo—KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ this morning.

General Secretary Poudel said, "The previous meeting had decided regarding the matter of Speaker. We have expected that Deputy-Speaker Shivamaya Tumbahanphe will help by tendering her resignation from the post."