Nepal President to address joint session of Parliament on Monday to announce government policy

PTI, May 10, 2026, Kathmandu : The policy document of Nepal’s new government will be announced on Monday, the first day of the Federal Parliament’s budget session.

This will be the first budget session of Parliament after Prime Minister Balendra Shah and his Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) came to power in March.

A constitutional provision requires the President to address the joint session of the first meeting of Parliament after the House of Representatives election and the first session of Parliament every year.

President Ramchandra Paudel, who is scheduled to address the joint session of Parliament, will announce the policies and programmes of the government on Monday as per Article 95 of the Constitution, Parliament Secretariat spokesperson Ekram Giri said.

The Parliament meeting will start at 2 pm and the President will deliver his speech at 4 pm, according to a notice issued by the Parliament Secretariat.

Earlier last month, citing “special reasons”, President Paudel on April 23 suspended the session of both Houses of Parliament that was scheduled for April 30, a development described by the opposition as “unprecedented and surprising”.

Now, the session starting Monday will be the second parliamentary session — the budget session — after the joint session held from April 20 to 10, days after the new dispensation took charge.

The Balendra Shah government had recommended that the President suspend the session beginning on April 30 mainly to promulgate important ordinances. One of them was a Constitutional Council ordinance aimed at appointing the new Chief Justice, as the position had remained vacant for some time.

The move invited criticism from opposition parties, which argued that regular parliamentary sessions should be followed instead of using ordinances as a shortcut.

The date for budget presentation is fixed as Jestha 15 each year according to the Nepali calendar. It falls on May 29 this year as per the Gregorian calendar.

As per the schedule, the government will present eight ordinances recently promulgated by the President for endorsement. These ordinances include, among others, the Public Procurement Ordinance, the ordinance related to special arrangements for removal of public position holders, and the Constitutional Council First Amendment Ordinance.

The ordinances will also be presented to the National Assembly, the Upper House.

Shah and the RSP decimated traditional parties in the first general elections — voting for which was held on March 5 — following last year’s violent Gen Z protests that demanded generational change and a corruption-free regime.