KATHMANDU, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Nepal's National Assembly, also known as the Upper House of the Federal Parliament, has got full shape on Tuesday, as President Bidhya Devi Bhandari appointed three parliament members as recommended by the government.
Spokesman at the President's Office Kul Prasad Chudal said in a statement on Tuesday that the president appointed Yubaraj Khatiwada, Bimala Paudyal and Ramnaraya Bidari as the members to the 59-member National Assembly in accordance with Article 86 (2) of the Nepali Constitution.
The three newly appointed National Assembly members hold expertise in their respective fields. Khatiwada is a former vice president of National Planning Commission, Paudyal is a former member of National Planning Commission and Bidari is a senior advocate.
In the National Assembly, Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist) has 27 seats, Nepali Congress has 13 seats, Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has 12 seats, Rashtriya Janata Party has two seats and Federal Socialist Party has two seats.
Those 56 members of the National Assembly were elected by an Electoral College comprising assembly members of the seven provinces and chiefs and deputy chiefs of municipalities and rural municipalities, on Feb. 7.
This is the first time the country will have a bicameral parliament in 11 years. Nepal had a unicameral legislature after the Interim Constitution came into implementation on Jan. 15, 2007 until the dissolution of Legislature-Parliament on Oct. 14, 2017.
The Constitution of Nepal promulgated by the Constituent Assembly in 2015 envisaged a bicameral parliament in the country.
Earlier on Monday, the Nepalese president summoned the first session of the Federal Parliament for March 5.
The first session of the Federal Parliament will be held more than two months after the Himalayan nation successfully accomplished crucial provincial and federal parliament elections simultaneously in two phases in November and December.
These elections were crucial steps to implement the landmark new Constitution in Nepal.
Authorities said Nepal will also choose a new president and a vice president on March 5.
People now hope for an end to the ruinous instability that plagued the country since 2008 after the country became a federal democratic republic abolishing the 240-year monarchy.
