Rastriya Prajatantra Party central Chairman Kamal Thapa on Sunday said mid-term election was the best way to settle the political crisis facing the country.
Italian public was witness to the manner in which political parties stingingly rebuffed wide scale appeal for preventing snap polls. September 25 is the date for yet another snap poll in the country’s long history of too many government changes and too frequent snap polls. Parliament witnessed turmoil when three of the Mario Draghi government’s coalition partners decided to boycott a crucial session of parliament in July. One thing led to another. Dismayed by the unbearable wrangling among the constituents of his 17-month-old “national unity” government, Prime Minister Draghi offered to resign.
KATHMANDU, July 5: At a time when the Supreme Court (SC) is almost finalizing the hearing on the House dissolution case, the Election Commission (EC) has published the schedule for the November midterm elections.
President Bidya Devi Bhandari dissolved the lower House of parliament on May 22 and declared that the mid-term polls will be held in two phases --- first on November 12 and the other on November 19--- on the recommendation of the Council of Ministers.
The poll body, on Monday, made the work schedule as per the government’s decision.
According to the routine, the election period is scheduled to kick off from July 15. The EC will announce the registration of the political parties aspiring to contest for the polls.
By September 8, the updated electoral roll will be published.
Candidate nomination for the first phase of election will take place on October 6 and 7. Final list of candidates with their election symbols will be published on October 11.
Nomination of candidates for the second phase of election to be held on November 19 is scheduled to happen on October 17 and 18. The final list of the candidates will be released on October 22. Candidates will also be provided their election symbol on that day.
Until and unless the Supreme Court (SC) reinstates the Lower House for further proceedings, the country will witness the snap polls on November 12 and 19
India is the first country to react after Prime Minister Oli dissolved the House on Friday night for a second time in five months and declared snap polls for November 12 and 19.
Claims for new govt formation were rejected
KATHMANDU, May 22: President Bidya Devi Bhandari has dissolved the House of Representatives (HoR) at the recommendation of the Council of Ministers.
President Bhandari dissolved the lower house of parliament as per Article 76 (7) and announced fresh parliamentary elections for November 12 and 19, at 1 AM on Saturday morning upon the recommendation of Cabinet meeting held on Friday midnight.
Earlier, 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 rejection of claims for a new government, a Cabinet meeting was held at the prime minister’s official residence in Baluwatar and decided to recommend to the president to announce snap polls for November 12 and 19 later this year.
This is the second time that PM Oli dissolved the House. Earlier, he had unconstitutionally dissolved the 275-member HoR on December 20 last year which was restored by the Supreme Court (SC) verdict on February 23.
KATHMANDU, May 14: Key leaders of Nepali Congress (NC), CPN (Maoist Center) and Janata Samajbadi Party (Upendra faction) have held a meeting at NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba's Budhanilkantha-based residence on Friday morning to review the latest political situation.
The meeting also decided to continue the three-party cooperation, analyzing that Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli may again dissolve parliament.
It is to be noted that Prime Minister Oli had dissolved the House of Representatives (HoR) on December 20 last year. However, the Supreme Court on February 23 restored the lower house of parliament citing Oli’s move as unconstitutional.
NC President Deuba, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and JSP Chairman Upendra Yadav were present in the meeting.
Sharing the analysis made by the Budhanilkantha meeting, a leader told Ratopati that PM Oli may not wait till June 12 to get a vote of confidence. “Preparations are underway to convene a parliamentary session in the third week of May and will seek a vote of confidence,” he said, adding that Oli will dissolve parliament without following the procedures stated in Article 76 (5) of the constitution. “He will even issue an annual budget through ordinance,” he added.
Opposition leaders concluded that Oli will go for snap polls at any cost. The source said, "He [Oli] is not willing to win trust vote, therefore Oli has a strategy of keeping Mahanta Thakur neutral and preventing anyone from garnering a majority in parliament."
Leaders also reached a conclusion that ‘external factors’ also foiled the opposition alliance’s efforts to muster majority. “At the same time, UML’s Madhav Nepal faction also betrayed us,” the leaders said. However, the leaders agreed to continue dialogues with Madhav Nepal and Mahanta Thakur.
The meeting also decided to exert pressure on the government to expedite its efforts to combat the second wave of the coronavirus..
n what is a major setback to Prime Minister K P Oli, Nepal’s Supreme Court has overturned his dissolution on 20 December of the Lower House of Parliament and announcement of snap polls. Ruling on 13 writ petitions against the prime minister’s recommendation to President Bidya Devi Bhandari, a Constitutional Bench Presided over by Chief […]
