CONSTITUTIONAL BENCH OF NEPAL SC TO HEAR HOUSE DISSOLUTION PETITIONS

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s Supreme Court on Thursday sent all the 19 petitions challenging the dissolution of the House of Representatives by the president to the constitutional bench.

As many as 30 petitions, including one by the opposition alliance, have been filed at the Supreme Court, challenging Friday’s House dissolution by President Bidya Devi Bhandari and rejection of opposition leader Sher Bahadur Deuba’s claim by the president for the post of prime minister.

After a preliminary hearing on the 19 petitions, chief justice of the Supreme Court Cholendra Shumsher Rana decided to send them all to the constitutional bench, the Kathmandu Post reported.

These cases will now be heard along with eleven others, including the one filed by 146 lawmakers demanding appointment of Nepali Congress president Deuba as the prime minister.

Eleven petitions were directly registered at the constitutional bench.

Some of the petitioners had demanded an interim against the dissolution and calling of the House meeting to present the national budget. Rana, however, refused. According to the constitutional provision, the government must present the federal budget at the parliament on May 29. Since there is no parliament session, the government is planning to bring the budget through an ordinance.

The constitutional bench will start hearing from Friday.

President Bhandari dissolved the 275-member House of Representatives on Saturday for the second time in five months and announced snap elections on November 12 and November 19 on the advice of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, heading a minority government. She rejected the bids of both embattled Prime Minister Oli and the Opposition alliance’s claims to form a government.