What parties, leaders and legal eagles say about House dissolution move

KATHMANDU, May 22: President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved the lower house of parliament --- the House of Representatives --- as per Article 76 (7) and announced fresh parliamentary elections for November 12 and 19 upon the recommendation of Cabinet meeting held on Friday midnight.

Earlier that,  President Bhandari rejected the claims staked for the new government formation as per Article 76 (5). Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba and Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli claimed to have the support of a majority of lawmakers in parliament. While PM Oli said that as many as 153 lawmakers --- 121 from the UML and 32 from the Janata Samajbadi Party (JSP) --- supported him for new government formation, Deuba also claimed to have support of 149 lawmakers --- 61 from NC, 49 from CPN (Maoist Center), 26 from ruling CPN-UML’s Madhav Nepal faction, 12 from Janata Samajbadi Party’s Upendra Yadav faction and an independent lawmaker. The claims from both the leaders were rejected citing the lack of strong bases for new government formation as per Article 76 (5). 

Following the House dissolution move, opposition parties, leaders of various political parties and legal experts have issued statements and criticised the move as it was ‘against the spirit of the Constitution of Nepal.’

The main opposition Nepali Congress (NC) said that Saturday’s House dissolution move has drawn its serious attention. President Sher Bahadur Deuba accused President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Prime Minister KP Oli of abusing the constitution as their private property. In a statement issued on Saturday, Deuba announced to wage political and legal battles against the move. 

Chairman of the CPN (Maoist Center),  Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' said that the move to dissolve the House of Representatives is unconstitutional. He accused Presidenti Bhandari of dissolving the House of Representatives upon the recommendation of the government that triggered the conspiracy to sabotage the constitution. Shortly after the meeting of the leaders of the opposition alliance, Dahal also announced a political and legal fight against the move . 

An alliance of five political parties including the NC, Maoist Center, Nepal-led factgion of ruling CPN-UML, Yadav-led faction of Janata Samajbadi Party and Rastriya Jana Morcha decided to strongly object to Saturday’s House dissolution move. A meeting of the alliance held on Saturday afternoon also announced political and legal fights against the move as it was ‘unconstitutional, undemocratic and regressive. Issuing a joint statement following the meeting, the parties condemned the dissolution of the HoR and blamed Presdient Bhndari for joining PM Oli to make a series of assaults on democracy and constitution. 

UML senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal has accused Prime Minister KP Oli of tampering with the constitution. In a statement issued on Saturday, Nepal said that Oli's move to dissolve the House of Representatives was a severe insult to the people’s fights and struggles for  democracy, nationalism and their livelihood. Condemning the `undemocratic and unconstitutional move of Prime Minister Oli and President Bhandari , Nepal urged the pro-democracy leaders, activists and members of the party to unite and move forward against regression as democracy is in ‘crisis’.

The Bibeksheel Sajha Party has condemned President Bidya Devi Bhandari’s move to dissolve the House of Representatives (HoR) on Friday and termed it as the crime jointed committed by the prime minister and president at a time the country is grappling with the pandemic of the coronavirus disease.  The party has also demanded a judicial review of the dissolution move and urged the political parties and civil society to unite against the ‘unconstitutional’ move. 

Constitution expert and senior advocate Dr Chandra Kanta Gyawali said that it was a wrong call of President Bidya Devi Bhandari to ask the lawmakers to show the support of majority in parliament while staking claim for the formation of a new government as per Article 76 (5) of the Constitution of Nepal. 

Talking to Ratopati hours after the President, at the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, dissolved the House of Representatives (HoR), Dr Gyawali said that Prime Minister’s KP Sharma Oli’s claim for new government formation on Friday, too, was also unconstitutional. “He [PM Oli] had once lost a trust vote from parliament on May 10. As he said that the government recommended to the president citing that it could not win a trust vote amid the contemporary political situation, he should not have staked a claim for a new government on Friday.”