Kathmandu, January 19
Dev Raj Ghimire of the ruling CPN-UML has been elected the speaker of the House of Representatives.
The House elected Ghimire to the position on Thursday afternoon. Ghimire got 167 votes to defeat his sole competitor, Ishwari Neupane of the Nepali Congress.
There were 268 lawmakers present. While one lawmaker abstained from voting, 100 lawmakers voted against him.
In absence of the speaker following the elections in November 2022, Pashupati Shamsher Rana, the most aged member, had been leading the House meetings so far.
Meanwhile, Rana also announced that the deputy speaker’s election will take place on Saturday.
