Nepal: Supreme Court issues show case notice to President & PM in House dissolution case

On Wednesday, Nepal's Supreme Court issued a show cause notice to the Office of the President, Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers on the dissolution of the House of Representatives and sought a reply within 15 days. At the recommendation of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, President Bidya Devi Bhandari had dissolved the House on May 22 for the second time in five months and announced snap elections on November 12 and November 19. 

The proceedings of the case

The five-member constitutional bench, headed by Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana, has sought clarification from the defendants. The proceedings of the politically significant case were disrupted since Sunday, June 6. A regular hearing of the case is expected to resume from June 23 after the completion of the 15-day deadline provided by the court to the defendants to submit their clarification. 

Petitions filed by opposition

Including the Opposition alliance, nearly 30 writ petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court against the dissolution of the House, which quoted them as 'unconstitutional'.

Due to petitioners' and government lawyers' cycle of objections over the composition of justices in the Constitutional Bench claiming conflict of interest, the case hearing has been obstructed multiple times. 

The reshuffling Cabinet

On May 29, Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari had dissolved the House of Representatives and announced that mid-term polls to be held on November 12 and 19. This came after Bhandari rejected the claims of both Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli and opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba for government formation. Oli had the support of 153 lawmakers including members of the Janata Samajbadi Party, Nepali Congress president Deuba submitted signatures of 149 parliamentarians which did not sum up as there are 275 members in Nepal's House of Representatives. Therefore, Bhandari took recourse to Article 76(5) which paves way for the dissolution of the Parliament and fresh polls if no one is able to garner the support of a majority of the lawmakers. 

In early June, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli reshuffled his Cabinet retaining only four old Cabinet members including Lilanath Shrestha, Basanta Kumar Nembang, Bishnu Paudel, and Krishna Gopal Shrestha. The Thakur-Mahato faction decided to back Oli, the Yadav-Bhattarai faction of the JSP-N was in favour of forming a government led by Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba. 

(With PTI Input)

(Image Credit: PTI)