was reelected in November 2013, and thus served two terms as a member of the Constituent Assembly from Sindhupalchok–2. He served as a standing committee member of the CPN (Maoist Centre) and was a spokesperson of the party, and was in-charge of the publicity and education department of the party. He has served twice as a minister—first as the Minister for Information and Communication from May to July 2011, and later as the Minister for Forests and Soil Conversation from October 2015 to July 2016. Despite his very short term as Minister for Information and Communication, a frequency policy was formulated under his lead and a frequency distribution system was established. He also ensured budget allocation for different facilities to journalists including life insurance and capacity building training of journalists as a part of the role of the government for promotion and development of the free press. During his tenure as Minister for Forests and Soil Conversation, Sapkota visited China on the invitation of the Chinese Minister for State Forestry Administration in January 2016, where in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, China sought for two pairs of one-horned rhinoceros. He proceeded with the proposal of handing over the pair of rhinos, and in July 2016, the cabinet officially decided to gift two pairs of the endangered animal to China. He was a member of the House of Representatives from Sindhupalchok–1, having been elected in the general election held in December 2017. After then-speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara resigned in the wake of allegations of sexual assault and attempted rape of a parliamentary staffer, Sapkota was elected speaker unopposed on 26 January 2020 after his candidacy was put forth by the ruling Nepal Communist Party, and was administered the oath of office the next day by president Bidya Devi Bhandari. Electoral history Sapkota was elected to the first Constituent Assembly in 2008 from Sindhupalchok–2 with a margin of over 20,000 votes than his next closest opponent. He was reelected in 2013 from the same constituency, but with a heavily reduced majority of just 650 votes. For the 2017 federal polls, the left alliance, consisting of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) and Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) nominated him as a common candidate for Sindhupalchok–1, and he successfully unseated Nepali Congress' Mohan Bahadur Basnet, who was then serving as the Minister of Information and Communications, winning by over 10,000