Had the process moved smoothly, the impeachment motion against suspended chief of the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority Lokman Singh Karki would have entered the voting phase in Legislature-Parliament. But 40 days since its registration, the motion is still being deliberated in the House.

The motion registered in Parliament Secretariat on October 19 has been under discussion for 34 days since October 25. As many as 157 lawmakers from the ruling CPN (Maoist Centre) and the opposition CPN-UML had

registered the motion. Records at the Parliament Secretariat show that 63 lawmakers have taken part in theoretical discussion in five House meetings convened after the registration and there are just around 10 lawmakers waiting to express their views.

Given the number of interested lawmakers, the theoretical discussion would have been over in three days. But the ‘zero hour’ and ‘special hour’ were given more time than discussion on the motion. The House session on Tuesday was postponed until Thursday, allowing just five lawmakers to speak on the impeachment motion against Karki.

“I don’t understand why the discussion has lingered,” said Bhawani Khapung, a UML lawmaker, taking part in the theoretical discussion on Tuesday. “The impeachment process should be completed as soon as possible.” It has been learnt that the parties are waiting for the Supreme Court to decide on the pending cases against Karki before Parliament enters the voting phase. The impeachment process will end if the apex court convicts Karki in any of the three charges.

The hearing of the three cases against Karki will start on Thursday. As the Nepali Congress still remains undecided over the motion, the UML and the Maoists too want to linger the process as its endorsement is impossible without the support of the largest party in Parliament.

Bharat Gautam, spokesperson for the Parliament Secretariat, told the Post that preparations were being made to end the discussion most probably by Thursday as lawmakers have started criticising the delay.

Once discussion is over, the motion will be sent to the Impeachment Recommen-dation Committee, which will have a maximum of 30 days

to look into the charges against Karki. The IRC will forward its recommendation(s) to Parliament for clause-wise discussion. In a vote, if the motion is passed by a two-thirds majority of lawmakers, Karki will be relieved of office.