Only Three of Seven RSP Parliament Members Submit Questions for Prime Minister
Dragon Media Correspondent
Despite holding nearly a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, only three parliament members from the ruling Rastriya Swatantra Party submitted questions for the upcoming parliamentary question-and-answer session with Prime Minister Balendra Shah.
Seven questions had been allocated to RSP parliament members for Wednesday’s direct question session with the Prime Minister, based on the party’s strength in the House. However, only Amaresh Kumar Singh, Samiksha Baskota and Krishnahari Budhathoki submitted questions within the deadline.
Speaker Dol Prasad Aryal had instructed parliament members to register their questions with House of Representatives Secretary Prakash Adhikari by Bhadau 5.
Under the House regulations, up to 15 parliament members may question the Prime Minister during a single question-and-answer session. One question is allocated to each of the six nationally recognized parties, while the remaining nine are distributed according to party representation in Parliament.
RSP, which holds 182 of the 275 seats in the House, was entitled to seven questions. With only three parliament members submitting questions, four opportunities allocated to the ruling party remained unused.
From the Nepali Congress, Basana Thapa and Gita Gurung submitted questions. Premesh Kumar Hamal and Barshaman Pun registered questions on behalf of the Nepali Communist Party, while Ain Bahadur Mahar and Ganesh Singh Thagunna submitted questions from the CPN-UML.
Harkaraj Rai of the Shram Sanskriti Party and Khushbu Oli of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party also registered questions for the Prime Minister.
RSP has not publicly explained why four of its allocated questions were left unused.
The Prime Minister’s direct question-and-answer session is one of Parliament’s key mechanisms for holding the government publicly accountable. The limited participation from the ruling party, despite its overwhelming parliamentary strength, has raised questions about how actively its parliament members are using parliamentary oversight mechanisms.
