KATHMANDU: The Parliament Secretariat has published the schedule for the election of the new Speaker in the House of Representatives.

According to the schedule, a new Speaker will be elected on January 26.

Since the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) has already decided to field Agni Prasad Sapkota for the post, it is certain that Sapkota would be elected as the NCP holds the majority of votes required for his election.

According to the Parliament Secretariat, nominations for the election will be filed from 11 am to 2 pm on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the senior-most member at the HoR Mahantha Thakur chaired today’s second session of the HoR meeting on Monday.

The post of Speaker has been lying vacant after former Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara resigned from the post on October 1 following rape allegations against him by a female staffer at the Parliament Secretariat.

Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Shiva Maya Tumbahamphe, who stepped down on Monday, has said she tendered resignation from her post the moment the candidate for the Speaker was finalized.

Talking to journalists at the Parliament immediately after announcing her resignation, she said that she made the move to pave the way for the election of the Speaker after the NCP asked her to vacate the post.

She added that she could not obey the instruction of the NCP to tender resignation saying that she submitted her resignation to pave the path for the election of the new Speaker acknowledging the parliamentary values.