Kathmandu. Prime Minister Balendra Shah did not give any speech in the first session of Parliament after the general elections in Nepal. The first session of Nepal’s Parliament ended on Saturday without the Prime Minister’s speech.
After the House of Representatives elections held on the strength of the Genji movement under the leadership of Balendra Shah, a government was formed with about two-thirds majority. In such a situation, there was widespread curiosity to know what Prime Minister Shah would say in the first session of Parliament.
Usually, the Prime Minister, who is elected after the elections, addresses the Parliament and gives information about the priorities, values and policies of the government. Although this is not mandatory, it has been an established tradition in the past.
Newly elected Prime Minister Balendra Shah did not find it necessary to present the government’s policy and values before the MPs elected like him from across the country during the first session of Parliament that ended on Saturday.
After taking oath as Prime Minister on March 27, Balendra Shah has passed and made public a 100-point agenda of administrative reforms to be implemented in the next 100 days. This agenda includes many tasks like making new laws and amending old laws, for which the cooperation of the Parliament will be necessary.
Despite this, Prime Minister Balendra Shah did not even present this agenda passed in the first meeting of the Council of Ministers in the Parliament. This was not even formally brought to the notice of Parliament. As a result, other elected MPs also had to get information about the government’s 100-day plan and its priorities through media reports.
Experts of the parliamentary system consider it ‘abnormal’ for the Prime Minister not to speak in Parliament like this. According to Manohar Prasad Bhattarai, former Secretary General of the Federal Parliament Secretariat, there has been a tradition of the Prime Minister addressing the first session of Parliament after the general elections. Contrary to this tradition, he expressed surprise at Prime Minister Balendra Shah remaining silent during the entire session.
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