Nepal President dissolves House of Representatives for the second time

Bidya Devi Bhandari announces snap polls in November, Opposition alliance to move apex court

Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli: Getty Images

PTI   |  Kathmandu   |  23.05.21: Nepal’s President dissolved the House of Representatives on Saturday for the second time in five months and announced snap elections in November, rejecting both Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and the Opposition alliance’s claims to form a government, a “regressive” move that will be legally challenged yet again.

President Bidya Devi Bhandari announced in an early morning statement that the House of Representatives has been dissolved in accordance with Article 76(7) of the Constitution, ending a day of high-voltage political drama as the Himalayan nation tackles the raging Covid-19 pandemic.

As per the Article, a date to conduct another election within six months must also be fixed. The President has called early election in accordance with the Article.

The election dates are November 12 and November 19. The announcement came after Oli in his last deal-sealing move on Friday midnight recommended that the Office of the President dissolve the 275-member House and announce dates for early election.

Earlier, Oli and Opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba had staked separate claims to forma government, both of which were rejected by the President. According to Bhandari, none had adequate grounds for winning a vote of confidence.

“It has been noted that Prime Minister Oli counted those lawmakers as his supporters who extended support to the Opposition alliance, whereas the UML and JSP-N have forwarded letters stating action would be taken against those who had gone against the party to endorse the Opposition’s claim,” Bhandari said in a statement late on Friday.

According to the statement from the President’s Office, 26 lawmakers of the CPN-UML and 12 lawmakers of the Janata Samajbadi Party had supported both Oli and Deuba.

The President’s announcement plunged Nepal into further political crisis, a reminder of her December 2020 decision when she first dissolved the House at Oli’s recommendation, a move that swayed the course of Nepali politics towards uncertainty.

The Supreme Court had annulled their move in February.

Alarmed by Bhandari and Oli’s move yet again, the leaders of Nepal’s Opposition alliance on Saturday decided to take all legal and political means to counter Prime Minister Oli and President Bhandari’s “unconstitutional and undemocratic” move of dissolving the House.

In a joint statement issued at the end of a meeting called to discuss their future strategy, they termed the President’s move unconstitutional, undemocratic, autocratic and regressive.

The President did not follow her constitutional responsibility of appointing a new Prime Minister on the basis of the constitutional claim as per Article 76 (5) of the Constitution with signatures of majority lawmakers, the joint press statement said.

“Instead she sided with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli with malafide intentions and dissolved parliament in an attack on the Constitution and democracy. This regressive move has pushed the country towards new political polarisation and complexity.”

The statement was signed by Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba, CPN-Maoist Centre chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal, chairperson of Janata Samajbadi Party-Nepal Upendra Yadav and vice-chair of the Rastriya Janamorcha Durga Paudel.

The alliance is devising a strategy to approach the Supreme Court with all its lawmakers on Sunday demanding that the apex court scrap the President’s decision.

The parties blamed the president for making an assault on the Constitution and democracy in partnership with the prime minister, who had lost a trust vote in the House. They claimed that the government is hell-bent on its attempt to prolong the autocratic rule.