KATHMANDU: A Secretariat meeting of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on Sunday has decided to pick its party leader Agni Sapkota as the new Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Earlier, NCP chairmen KP Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal had in a meeting held this morning agreed to name Sapkota as the new Speaker.

The post was vacant since October 1, 2019, after the then Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara stepped down.

The nine-member Secretariat officially announced Sapkota as the party’s candidate for the post.

Chairman Dahal had in the morning reached the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar to discuss the party’s candidate for a new Speaker.

The ruling party was under pressure to pick a candidate for the post as a meeting of House of Representatives has been slated for Monday. The meeting of Parliament has been postponed time and again as the leaders have been at loggerheads about the Speaker.

Also Read, NCP Secretariat to make a final call on Speaker