President Ramchandra Paudel on Tuesday administered an oath of office and secrecy to the newly-elected Chairman of the National Assembly Narayan Prasad Dahal.

Vice President Ram Sahay Prasad Yadav, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Chief Justice Bishowambhar Prasad Shrestha and House of Representatives Speaker Dev Raj Sharma among others were present at the oath-taking ceremony at the President’s Office.

Dahal, a common candidate of the ruling alliance, was elected chair of the upper house securing 39 votes in the 59-strong house.

Dahal, a younger brother to Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, was nominated to the National Assembly in 2022 by President Bidya Devi Bhandari on the recommendation of the then Sher Bahadur Deuba government. He, however, has a long political history.

Dahal, who started politics in the 1980s, became a Maoist central committee member in 1997. He first entered Parliament in the reinstated House of Representatives after the 2006 People’s Movement. In the 2008 first Constituent Assembly, he was elected from Chitwan-3.