KATHMANDU, Feb 22: Lawmaker Mahendra Yadav, who is younger than at least a dozen other members of parliament, is going to chair parliamentary meetings as the eldest member of the 275-member House until a speaker is elected.
Sixty-three-year-old Yadav is going to chair the House meetings as the documents he submitted to the parliament secretariat show him to be 80.
According to records at the parliament secretariat, the other senior members are Mahantha Thakur (who is 75), Sher Bahadur Deuba (72) and Chandra Kanta Chaudhary, Laxman Lal Karna and Satya Narayan Sharma Khanal (all 70).
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“The date of birth in my citizenship certificate is wrong but I have no option other than to go by that. Though I was born in 2011 BS, the year of birth stated in my citizen certificate is 1994 BS. I tried to correct the date but couldn't because of bureaucratic hassles,” Yadav told Republica.
The first meetings of the House of Representatives and the National Assembly are scheduled for March 5. Yadav will chair the first meeting and the following meetings of the lower house until the new speaker is elected.
The parliament secretariat has scheduled the administration of the oath of office for the newly elected members for March 5. Issuing a notice on Tuesday, the secretariat fixed the oath of office for House of Representatives members at 4 pm and for National Assembly members at 5 pm, at Parliament Building, New Baneshwar.
Likewise, the parliament secretariat has asked two members of the National Assembly to bring their citizenship certificates as their ages appeared equal in their records.
Haricharan Shiwakoti of CPN-UML and Tara Devi Bhatta of Nepali Congress have been asked to submit their certificates as both of them are 69. According to officials, the parliament secretariat will be decided who will chair the first meeting of the upper house until the election of its speaker after going through the citizenship certificates.
