Apr 17, Kathmandu - the chairpersons of ten thematic committees and two joint committees were elected and sworn in on Friday. The swearing-in ceremony took place at the Singh Durbar hall, where the Speaker of Parliament, Dolprasad Aryal, administered the oath of office and confidentiality to the newly elected leaders.

The ceremony saw participation from Deputy Speaker Rupi Kumari Thakur and Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sobita Gautam. Among the committees, nine chairpersons were elected unopposed, while two committees held competitive elections to select their leaders.

In the meetings held on the same day, the elected chairpersons included Review Basyota for the Law, Justice, and Human Rights Committee; Ashok Chaudhary for the Agriculture Cooperative and Natural Resources Committee; Ashish Gajurel for Infrastructure Development; Aakriti Awasthi for Women and Social Affairs; Hari Dhakal for State Affairs and Good Governance; Bharat Bahadur Khadka for the Public Accounts Committee; Sumnima Udas for International Relations and Tourism; Krishna Hari Budhathoki for the Economic Committee; and Rahvar Ansari for the Industry Committee. All were elected unopposed.

Additionally, Bhadnarayan Shrestha was elected unopposed as the Chair of the Joint Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Director Principles, Policies, and Responsibilities. Most of the uncontested leaders are members of the Nepalese Independent Party, except for Bharat Bahadur Khadka of the Nepali Congress.

Two committees held competitive elections: the Education, Health, and Information Technology Committee saw Dr. Ojasvi Sherchan of Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) competing with Guru Baral of the CPN-UML, with Sherchan emerging victorious. Similarly, the International Relations and Implementation Monitoring Committee saw Ganesh Karki of RSP competing against Madan Kumari Shah (Garima) of the CPN-UML, with Karki winning.

All newly elected leaders took the oath of office and confidentiality today, marking an important step in parliamentary oversight and governance in Nepal.