Bending constitutional provisions for government formation, the KP Oli way
Constitution drafters failed to foresee that prime minister elected under 76 (1) would dissolve the House after three years at the helm, as that article clearly ensures full term.
KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba has called a meeting of party office bearers today. Following the recent agreement with the CPN-UML on government formation, NC President Deuba summoned a meeting of current and former office bearers at his residence in Budhanilkanth this morning. Last night, Deuba and UML Chairman KP Oli reached […]
KATHMANDU: CPN-UML Chairman, KP Oli, has reached the Prime Minister’s official residence in Baluwatar to hold talks with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda on government formation. This visit comes on the heels of the recent agreement to form an alliance comprising CPN-UML, Maoist Center, Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), and Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP). The […]
KATHMANDU: Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairman Rabi Lamichhane has met CPN-UML Chairman KP Oli at the latter’s residence in Balkot on Sunday afternoon. According to sources, the leaders discussed government formation. As the ruling coalition failed to reach an agreement on the formation of a new government, politics has moved on to a new mode.
KATHMANDU: While the ruling coalition has been intensified the talks with various political parties to settle on the issue of government formation, CPN-Maoist Center General Secretary Dev Gurung has met CPN-UML Chairman KP Oli at the latter’s residence in Balkot on Tuesday. According to sources close to Maoist Center, Gurung went to Balkot on the […]
KATHMANDU, May 27: Hearing over the 19 writ petitions registered against the dissolution of the House of Representatives (HoR) is scheduled to begin from Thursday.
According to the Supreme Court (SC) administration, a total of 30 writ petitions have been filed against the President Bidya Devi Bhandari’s move to dissolve the lower house of parliament on May 22 at the recommendation of the Council of Ministers.
The Supreme Court has scheduled the cause list of the 11 writ petitions on Friday. The hearings over those petitions will be carried out at the Constitutional Bench.
Following the House dissolution on May 22 by President Bidya Devi Bhandari at the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, 146 outgoing lawmakers belonging to the opposition alliance reached the apex court in-person on Monday and registered a writ petition demanding House restoration and appointment of Nepali Congress (NC) President Sher Bahadur Deuba. The petitioners claimed that the PM KP Oli-led government does not have a legitimacy to remain in power as the president had already called the MPs for new government formation.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved parliament at the recommendation of the Council of Ministers, as per the Article 76 (7) of the Constitution of Nepal. Earlier, Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba laid a claim for a new government with the support of 149 lawmakers as the President had called upon the members of the lower house of parliament to stake their claim for the new government formation as per Article 76 (5). Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, who had opted not to take a trust vote in parliament as per Article 76 (4), also staked a claim for a new government. President Bhandari, however, rejected both the claims.
KATHMANDU, May 25: KP Sharma Oli has made a unique 'record' by moving across all the articles of the constitution which are meant for the formation of the Council of Ministers, in the single tenure of the House of Representatives (HoR). For this, Oli has taken all possible measures. PM Oli, interpreting the constitution himself, is now steering ahead by flouting Article 76 (4) of the Constitution of Nepal.
Article 76 of the constitution mentions four different provisions for forming a government. First, government under the leader of a parliamentary party that commands majority in the House of Representatives (HoR) as the Prime Minister (Clause 1 and the second, government of a member of the House of Representatives who can command majority with the support of two or more parties representing in the HoR (Clause 2). Similarly, Clause 3 states that as the parliamentary party leader of the party which has the highest number of MPs in the HoRcan form a new government while Clause 5 states that the president shall appoint a member who presents a ground on which he or she can obtain a vote of confidence in parliament.
Prime Minister Oli has attempted to exercise all four provisions in order to take charge of the government. Oli, who was appointed as the prime minister as per Article 76 (3) on May 10, skipped the Article 76 (4) and also dissolved the lower house of parliament by exercising the power of the prime minister as mentioned in Clause 6. This is not the first time he has dissolved parliament. He had earlier dissolved the 275-member House of Representatives on December 20 last year which was, however, restored by February 23 order of the Supreme Court.
Oli, who was appointed as the Prime Minister on February 15,2018, had assumed the office as the chief executive of the country in accordance with Article 76, Clause 2. Clause 2 of Articlle 76 states that the president shall appoint a member of the House of Representatives who can command a majority with the support of two or more parties at the HoR as the prime minister in case no party has a clear majority in the House.
Following the unification of the CPN-UML and the CPN-Maoist Center to the Nepal Communist Party (NCP) on May 17, 2018, Oli was automatically transformed into the prime minister under Article 76 (1). The Constitutional Bench, during its verdict on the House dissolution case on February 23 also admitted this fact.
Article 76, Clause 1 of the Constitution provides for the appointment of the leader of the parliamentary party having a majority in the House of Representatives as the Prime Minister.
Although Oli was not sworn in under Clause 2, the essence of the Supreme Court's verdict was that he was the prime minister under Clause 1 following the merger deal between the UML and Maouist.
Even after the Supreme Court, through its March 7 order, invalidated the erstwhile ruling NCP and resurrected the UML and Maoist Center, Oli remained as the Prime Minister under Clause 1 for more than two months before he lost a trust vote in parliament on May 10.
Shortly after Oli lost the trust vote, President Bidya Devi Bhandari called upon the political parties for the formation of a new government under Clause 2 in the stipulated time frame of three days. As other parties failed to stake claim for the new government, Oli was again appointed the prime minister under Clause 3 which states that the President shall appoint the parliamentary party leader of the party which has the highest number of members in HoR as the prime minister if the government cannot be formed under clause 2.
The prime minister appointed under Clause 3 shall obtain a vote of confidence from the parliament no later than thirty days after the date of such appointment.
However, Prime Minister Oli did not seek a confidence vote and said he ‘had facilitated’ the process of formation of a new government under Clause 5.
Following the recommendation made by the Council of Ministers, President Bhandari on Thursday evening (May 20) called upon the members of parliament to stake claim for a new government formation, extending a deadline of 21 hours.
It is stated in the Article 76 (5) that the president shall appoint such a member as the prime minister who can present a ground on which he or she can obtain a vote of confidence in the HoR in case the PM appointed under Clause 3 fails to obtain a vote of confidence under Clause 4.
Nepali Congress (C) President, Sher Bahadur Deuba laid a claim for the new government formation as per Article 76 (5) to the president on May 21 (Friday). Deuba claimed to have the support of 149 lawmakers with him. PM Oli, who had earlier announced the facilitation for new government formation, also staked a claim for the new government as per Article 76 (5).
However, President Bhandari rejected both teht claims dissolved parliament, using the power of the prime minister under Clause 5.
Prime Minister Oli has set up a unique precedent in Nepal’s parliamentary history by exercising all the possible provisions for new government formation as mentioned in Article 76.
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.”
