KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress has announced that it will field a candidate for the President of the House of Representatives’ Public Accounts Committee.

Party lawmaker Bhishma Raj Aangdembe confirmed the decision, stating that the party will contest the leadership of the key parliamentary watchdog body. “We will have our candidacy in the Public Accounts Committee. Discussions are ongoing with opposition parties regarding other committees,” he said.

Opposition parties are currently intensifying talks on whether to jointly contest the chairmanship of parliamentary committees and, if so, how to distribute the positions among themselves.

A joint meeting of opposition leaders is scheduled for 12 PM today at Singha Durbar to finalize the strategy, including whether to field candidates and, if yes, from which party for which committee.

From the Nepali Congress side, lawmakers Mohan Acharya and Bhishmaraj Aangdamba are actively engaging in discussions with other opposition parties. Similarly, CPN (Maoist Centre) leaders Barsaman Pun and Yubaraj Dulal are also involved in the negotiations.

According to the Federal Parliament Secretariat, nomination filing for committee chair positions will take place from 1 PM to 4 PM today at the office of the Secretary of the House of Representatives in Singha Durbar. The final list of candidates will be published at 4:30 PM the same day.

The Federal Parliament has 16 committees in total—10 under the House of Representatives, 4 under the National Assembly, and 2 joint committees. While National Assembly committee chairs have already been selected, elections for the remaining House and joint committee chairs are yet to be completed.

Earlier on Chaitra 27, the House of Representatives had selected members for the thematic committees, and Speaker Dev Prasad Aryal had announced Friday as the date for electing committee chairpersons according to parliamentary procedures.