Kathmandu: Devraj Ghimire, a senior leader of the communist party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist—has won the race for Speaker’s post.
Altogether, 167 of the 268 members present in the House backed Ghimire.
Ishwari Neupane of the Nepali Congress Party had also filed her nomination for the post, but with Ghimire gaining the required majority, the selection process concluded in the first count itself, giving no chance to her to be considered.
Born in Taplejung in 1957, Ghimire began his political career as a student leader in the communist movement. He was member of the National Assembly (Rashtriya sabha) 2056 to 2060 BS. He won the parliamentary election from Jhapa-2 in the November 20 election.
On behalf of the ruling alliance, former speaker and UML leader Subash Nembang (CPN-UML) had proposed Ghimire’s candidature. He was backed by the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist center.
While Neupane had been proposed by Bishwa Prakash Sharma (NC) and seconded by Prakash Jwala, a United Socialist party member.