Valley
Parliament endorses President’s decision
Despite reservations from the Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist Centre), the Legislature-Parliament on Tuesday endorsed President Bidhya Devi Bhandari’s decision to remove constitutional difficulties in forming a new government.Binod Ghimire
Despite reservations from the Nepali Congress and the CPN (Maoist Centre), the Legislature-Parliament on Tuesday endorsed President Bidhya Devi Bhandari’s decision to remove constitutional difficulties in forming a new government.
On the recommendation of the KP Sharma Oli-led Cabinet, President Bhandari on Monday removed the difficulties as per Article 305 of the Constitution of Nepal.
PM Oli, hours before announcing his resignation, had decided to recommend that the President remove the difficulties as there was “no room for formation of a new government as per Article 298 as it provisioned only one PM in the transitional period”.
Ever since the Maoist Centre pulled out of the Oli government on July 12, political parties have different takes on how to install a new government.
PM Oli had been saying that there was no constitutional provision for forming a new government, while the Maoist and the Congress parties said there were no constitutional hurdles in replacing the government.
Taking part in the discussion on the decision to remove the difficulties, the opposition alliance accused the government of dragging the President into a controversy while the ruling parties argued that the move was a must. Despite its reservations, the alliance voted in favour of the presidential action.
“The government’s decision to invoke Article 305 while Parliament is functioning is a historical mistake,” said NC lawmaker Ramesh Lekhak, taking part in the deliberation. “This was done just to please some CPN-UML leaders,” he said in a satirical tone aimed at former chairman of the Constituent Assembly Subas Nembang, who had argued that the present constitution did not readily allow the formation of a new administration.
However, UML leaders argued that Article 298 clearly states the new government is formed within seven days of promulgation of the new constitution if the House is in business. When it is not, the election of the prime minister is held within seven days of commencement of the Parliament session, according to UML lawmaker Krishna Bhakta Pokhrel. “This means there was no room for the formation of a new government which prompted us to seek removal of the constitutional difficulties,” he said.
The Article 305 (power to remove the difficulties) of the Constitution of Nepal states: If any difficulty arises in connection with the implementation of this constitution until the commencement of the first session of the Federal Parliament, upon being elected in accordance with this constitution, the President may, on the recommendation of the government, Council of Ministers, issue necessary orders to remove such difficulty; and such orders must be submitted to the Legislature-Parliament or Federal Parlia-ment for approval.